Author: buipham

Must have ingredients for a well-stocked kitchen

  • bouillon,
  • salted radish,
  • cải bắp thảo ( preserved cabbage in the jar )
  • sesame oil ,
  • rock sugar ,
  • anise stars ,
  • five spices,

 

For Phở : yellow onion, ginger, anis stars must be roasted until partly burnt, that not only flavor but color of the soup too.

For mì and hủ tiếu,dry squid, yellow onion also roasted ,salted radish another secret

Numbers

Now, we’re learning numbers:
0: không
1: một
2: hai
3: ba
4: bốn but exception when you address a person, you say “tư”
5: năm (that’s me, Dì Năm😂)
6: sáu
7: bảy
8: tám
9: chín
10: mười
11: mười một
12: mười hai
13: mười ba
14: mười bốn
15: mười lăm
16: mười sáu
17: mười bảy
18: mười tám
19: mười chín
20: hai mươi

Now, I will do a recording so you can know how to pronounce the numbers which I think will be helpful for those who don’t know how to pronounce them clearly.

Vietnamese – counting from 0 to 10
Vietnamese – counting from 11 to 20

Lesson 2 – greeting family members and others

Thưa (greeting) & Dạ (acknowledgement)

You need to know the differences between Thưa (greeting) & Dạ (acknowledgement).  They indicate politeness when addressing anyone older than you.

Thưa + a title is the polite way to greet an older person.  Thưa Bà Ngoại (grandma), Thưa Mẹ (mom), Thưa Dì Ba (Auntie #3) are all proper greetings.

When Julian gets home, he would say “Thưa Mẹ” to his Mom.  Chloé would say “Thưa Dì Ba” to her auntie, Thanh.

Dạ + a title is the polite way to acknowledge an older person.  When Bà Ngoại calls “Calvin ơi”, he will answer “Dạ Bà Ngoại”, almost like a “yes grandma”.

Calvin could expand the phrase to say,

  • “Yes, grandma” is Dạ có Bà Ngoại  (có = yes)
  • “No, grandma” is Dạ không Bà Ngoại (không = no)

We rarely use “Thưa & Dạ“ to someone younger than ourselves, except in endearing situations.  When an older person acknowledges a younger person, he/she can use either đây (I’m here) or chi (what is it).  For example, when Chloé calls “anh Trân ơi”,  Trân will answer “anh đây” or “chi em?”

Greeting a person on the street based on their perceived age or status

In the Vietnamese culture, we have to be polite when greeting people on the streets, based on their perceived age or status.    To make it easy for you to understand, I have divided everyone into 4 groups.

  • Group 1 – greeting someone much younger than you:
    • chào em to someone noticeably younger
    • chào cháu to someone much younger, around your nephew/niece’s ages
  • Group 2 – greeting someone around your age:
    • chào anh to a male or chào chị to a female

Note that since you don’t really know their age, to be polite, you call them “anh” or “chị” but not “em”.

  • Group 3 – greeting someone around your parent’s ages, or between the ages of 40’s to 60’s:
    • chào bác if they are older than your parents
    • chào chú (male) or chào cô (female) if they are younger than your parents
  • Group 4 – greeting someone around your grandparent’s ages, or between the ages of 60’s and up:
    • chào ông (male) or chào bà (female)

The same will be applied to the usage of “Thưa & Dạ“ when you see them on the street or in our house as guests.

That will be all for lesson #2. If you have any questions, feel free to call or text me. Remember, the quiz will be on Sunday and Lesson #3 will be the following Monday.

Chào các em (my students)
Dì Năm

Hierarchy of family members

This post shows the hierarchy of family members and how to address them.  Taken from this wiki page.

generic paternal maternal northern southern male female
great grandfather Ông cố Ông cố nội Ông cố ngoại
great grandmother Bà cố Bà cố nội Bà cố ngoại
grandfather Ông Ông nội Ông ngoại
grandmother Bà Bà nội Bà ngoại
great uncle Ông
great aunt Bà
father Cha Bố Ba
mother Mẹ Má
children Con cái Con trai Con gái
uncle/older Bác Bác Bác trai/ Bác nam Bác gái/ Bác nữ (rarely used)
uncle/younger Chú Cậu
uncle in-laws Bác/Chú Dượng
aunt/older Bác Bác
aunt/younger Cô Dì
aunt in-laws Bác/Thím Mợ
sibling/oldest Anh/Chị cả
sibling/older Anh Chị
sibling/younger Em Em trai Em gái
sibling/youngest út (Em trai/gái) út

Chào học trò
(Hello students)

Today, I’m going to add a supplement to the first lesson.

In this section, you will learn to address people according to family sides.

For example, if you are on the paternal side like Trâm Anh, Nhạc, and Stella, you would address the uncle as Chú Chín instead of Cậu Chín like the maternal side.

For aunties, on the paternal side you would say Cô Ba instead of Dì Ba like the maternal side. It’s kinda confusing but I think you will understand when you start to addressing them in Vietnamese.

The same goes for grandparents. That’s why Trâm Anh, Nhạc & Stella call Bà Ngoại as Bà Nội because they’re both on the paternal side.

Now, as you got all that, you need to learn Vietnamese numbers in order to understand why you call Dì 3.

In Vietnamese culture, most families tend to call the siblings not by name but by numbers. For the oldest, we call Chị Hai (for sister) Anh Hai (for brother) even though they are the first borns.

This is the way of the southerners. But in northern VN, the oldest are called Anh Cả (oldest brother), or chị Cả as number 1, so that #2 will be correct as #2.

You’re with me so far?!!😍

I know it’s a lot and a little confusing but bear with me.

How to address a person politely (northern vs southern style)

In the northern style, language/terms are more formal and precise.
If the southern style, or addressing southerners, things can be more informal.

Basic terms to address an older person:

  • ông, bà are your grandparent’s equals
  • bác (both male, female) are your parent’s older equals
  • chú/cô (father’s side), cậu/dì (mother’s side) are your parent’s younger equals

When meeting someone on the street without knowing their relationship to you, if they are really old (same/older than your grandparents), then you address them as ông, bà; otherwise, bác (older than your parents), chú, cô (younger than your parents) are acceptable.

Saying ‘hello/goodbye’:

Chào is ‘informal’ hello/goodbye.  If you greet someone you already know, chào is acceptable.  It can be used with your grand/parents if allowed and in an informal setting; otherwise could be seen as impolite.  If you want to be extremely polite, use dạ chào <title>.

Thưa can be used when (you are formally) addressing someone older than you.  It could also be used as a formal ‘hello’ or a formal acknowledgement when meeting an older person for the first time that day.  If you want to be extremely polite, use dạ thưa <title>.

When addressing an older person, it’s acceptable to add the word ‘dạ‘ in front of any sentence/phrase to be extremely polite.

Acknowledging someone:

These 3 terms,  vâng, dạ, ừ , are used as a polite acknowledgement of/to a person (similar to ‘please sir/mam’ or ‘yes sir/mam’), or a polite way of saying “yes, I see/hear you”.

vâng – is strictly a northern Vietnamese word; used by almost everyone as a polite acknowledgement in the following scenarios:

  • from a younger person to an older person
  • from people at equal level (age or socioeconomic status)
  • sometimes but very rarely, from an older person to a younger person.  It’s used mostly in a formal setting, or during an endearing chatting with family members or members within/among the higher status
  • it’s used (rarely) in very polite situations, by a person of higher socioeconomic status to a person of lower status

dạ – is both a northern/southern word; used almost exclusively as a polite acknowledgement in the following scenarios:

  • from a younger person to an older person
  • from a person of lower socioeconomic status to one with higher status
  • from people at equal level (age or socioeconomic status)

ừ – is both a northern/southern word; used by mostly (almost exclusively) as a simple acknowledgement in the following scenarios:

  • from an older person to a young’un
  • from an older person to anyone in a lower status

dạ vâng – is used as a double politeness (northern style), mostly to elders to show extreme reverent.

 

Vietnamese 101 – syllabus

Lessons:

Lesson 1 – addressing family members

Lesson 2 – greeting family members and others

 

 

References:

Lesson 1 – addressing family members

Calling or addressing the person you want talk to:

Mẹ ơi (oh Mom ),

Ba ơi (oh dad),

anh ơi (oh brother or hey brother),

chị ơi (oh older sister),

em ơi (oh younger brother or sister)

bà ngoại ơi!

dì (auntie) ba (#3),

dì tư (#4),

dì năm (#5),

dì sáu (#6),

cậu bảy (#7),

dì tám (#8),

we don’t have dì chín (#9) but we have (uncle) cậu chín (#9)