Vietnamese Pronouns

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Singular personal pronoun

1. The first person

The first person pronoun in Vietnamese is “tôi” which means “I” in English. It is the only personal pronoun that can be used in polite speech. Beside it, the first person can be “ta”, “tao” but they are only used in informal case, e.g. when talking with close friends.

2. The second person

The below table shows you some personal addresses and their usage

Personal pronounHow to use
EmUse for person who are younger than you as your younger sisters or brothers
BạnUse for person who is as the same age as you or your friends
Anha young male who is a little older than you or your elder brothers
Chịa young female who is a little older than you or your elder sisters
Côin formal case; to a young female (Miss )
BàFormal, an old female (Mrs., lady); informal, as your grandmother
Ông/ ngàiFormal, an old male (Mr., gentleman); informal, as your grandfather
màyinformal; people are younger than you

3. The third person

It is simple that when adressing the third person, Vietnamese adds the word “ấy” after the personal pronoun.

Example:

Anh ấy, ông ấy -> He Chị ấy, cô ấy, bà ấy -> She Nó * -> It (Nó* often refers to the things, animals but sometimes, “nó” can denote for a little child in informal case).

Plural personal pronoun

  • For the first person, the word “chúng” is added before the personal address.

Example:

Tôi -> Chúng tôi Ta -> chúng ta Tớ -> chúng tớ

  • For the second person, we use the word “các” before the personal address.

Example:

Anh -> các anh Chị -> các chị Bác -> các bác

  • When addressing plural pronoun for the third person, the word “họ” is used. It refers to a group of people in general both male and female. The second way to form the plural personal pronoun for the third person is to add the word “ấy” after the second person pronoun.

Example:

Anh -> các anh ấy Chị -> các chị ấy Bác -> các bác ấy

How to use personal pronouns?

The below table will show you general information.

* Singular pronoun

PronounEnglish equivalenceHow to use it
First personTôiI– Refer to yourself (formal)
Tao– Refer to yourself with close friends (informal)
Second personEmYou– Miss, girl or boy (younger than you, informal)
Anh– Mr. (older than you)
Chị– Miss or Mrs. in formal address
Ông– Mr., Sir., gentleman (formal)
Bà– Mrs., Madam, lady (formal)
Mày– Address between close friends (to use with “tao” – first person)
Third personEm ấyHe– Boy (younger than you)
Anh ấy– Mr. (Older than you or slightly younger than you in formal address)
Ông ấy– Mr., sir, gentleman (person is older than you or higher status)
Em ấyShe– Girl (younger than you)
Cô ấy– Miss.
Chị ấy– Miss or Mrs.
Bà ấy– Lady, Mrs, Madam (person is older than you or higher status)
NóIt– Thing in general

*Plural pronoun

PronounEnglish equivalenceHow to use it
First personChúng tôiWe– Refer to a group of yourselves (formal)
Chúng ta
Second personCácEmYou– Address to boys or girls (younger than you)
Anh– A group of young males (older than you)
Chị– A group of young females (older than you, )
Cô– A group of women (Miss)
Bà– A group of old females (Mrs., ladies)
Ông– A group of old males (Mr., Sir)
Third personHọThey– Address to a group of people (in general)
CácEm– A group of boys and girls (younger than you)
Anh– A group of young males
Chị– A group of females (Miss, Mrs.)
Cô– A group of young females (in general)
Bà– A group of old females
Ông– A group of old males
Chúng nó– A group of young people (younger than you, informal)

In addition, there are different pronouns for each kind of relative. For a listing of those pronouns, see family terms:

PronounUsage
cụyour great-grandparent
bàyour grandmother
ôngyour grandfather
chúyour uncle who is your father’s younger brother
bácyour uncle who are your parents’s older siblings
côyour aunt, who is your father’s younger sister
dìyour aunt, who is your mother’s younger sister
chịyour elder sister or siblings
anhyour elder brother or siblings
emyour younger sister or brother or siblings
thầythe teacher (if he is a man)
côthe teacher (if she is a woman)

Author: Chu Phong Lan

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