Learn about the present continuous tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone. I’m Becky. Welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com This is the Absolute Beginner series, Season 1, Lesson 21- Getting Busy in Vietnam. |
| Huyen: Xin chào! I’m Huyen. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the present continuous tense. The conversation takes place on the phone, and is between An and Lan. |
| Huyen: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be using informal Vietnamese. |
| Becky: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| An: Hi Lan, có rảnh không? Đi xem phim đi. |
| Lan: Đi vào buổi chiều được không? |
| An: Sao? Cậu bận à? |
| Lan: Ừ, tớ đang học tiếng Anh. |
| An: Vậy à? Xin lỗi đã làm phiền cậu nhé. |
| Lan: Không sao, tẹo nữa tớ gọi lại nhé. Bye cậu. |
| An: Hi Lan, are you free? Let's go watch a movie. |
| Lan: Can we go in the afternoon? |
| An: Why? Are you busy? |
| Lan: Yes, I'm learning English. |
| An: Really? Sorry for disturbing you. |
| Lan: No problem. I'll call you back in a while. Bye. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Huyen, I noticed an English word in the dialogue. Is it common in Vietnam to use English in a Vietnamese conversation? |
| Huyen: Actually no, but young people like to add some English words in their conversation with their friends. |
| Becky: I guess it’s because English is widely taught at school, so young people learning English from an early age probably makes adding English words here and there in conversation very natural. |
| Huyen: Yeah, and trendy too. Words like “Hi”, “Hello”, “Bye”, “Okay”, or “Thanks” are often used. |
| Becky: But only in conversation, right? I assume it’s not common to add those words in writing, especially in official documents? |
| Huyen: Exactly. So listeners, remember the equivalents in Vietnamese, in case you need to write them down. |
| Becky: What do the older Vietnamese generations think about this trend? |
| Huyen: Oh, they don’t like it at all, because they think young people are ruining their mother tongue. |
| Becky: That’s understandable. So also be careful when talking with the elderly. Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Let’s start with... |
| Huyen: ...tẹo nữa. |
| Becky: “a bit ”or “a little”. This is a very useful phrase and is widely used in conversation. Use it when you want to express that you’ll do something in a while or in a short moment. |
| Huyen: For example, Tẹo nữa tôi sẽ đi siêu thị. |
| Becky: “I’ll go to the supermarket in a while.” |
| Huyen: Khi nào bạn gọi cho tớ? |
| Becky: “When will you call me?” |
| Huyen: Tẹo nữa nhé. |
| Becky: “In a while”. |
| Huyen: Tẹo nữa đến nhà tớ chơi nhé. |
| Becky: “Come over my house later.” |
| Huyen: The second word is, làm phiền. |
| Becky: “To disturb, to bother”. It’s commonly used in two sentences. Firstly... |
| Huyen: ...Xin đừng làm phiền tôi. |
| Becky: “Don’t disturb me.” And the second one is... |
| Huyen: ...Xin lỗi đã làm phiền. |
| Becky: “Sorry for disturbing.” |
| Huyen: The last word is lại. |
| Becky: “again”. It’s to be added after the main verb to mean that something is to be done again, such as... |
| Huyen: làm lại |
| Becky: “do again” |
| Huyen: Bản báo cáo này chưa được, hãy làm lại đi. |
| Becky: “This report is not good, please do it again.” |
| Huyen: nói lại |
| Becky: “say again” |
| Huyen: Làm ơn nói lại một lần nữa. |
| Becky: “Please say it again one more time”. |
| Huyen: Lại also means “back”, as in the dialogue: gọi lại |
| Becky: “call back” |
| Huyen: Hãy gọi lại cho tôi vào lúc 6 giờ tối. |
| Becky: “Please call me back at six pm.” |
| Huyen: quay lại |
| Becky: “to turn back” or “to return” |
| Huyen: Cô ấy sẽ không quay lại căn nhà đó nữa. |
| Becky: “She will not return to that house”. Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the present continuous tense. |
| Huyen: Tớ đang học tiếng Anh. |
| Becky: “I’m learning English”. To get the present continuous tense, simply add the preceding word... |
| Huyen: ...đang… |
| Becky: ...which means “in progress”, before the main verb. Unlike in English where we have to change the verb into “to be” plus the “-ing” form, the main verb here will stay the same no matter if the subject is singular or plural. |
| Huyen: In brief, the structure is: subject, plus đang, followed by the main verb, and an object if any. |
| Becky: Like in English, the present continuous tense in Vietnamese is used to describe an action that is in progress, or is happening at the moment of speaking. Let’s hear some examples. |
| Huyen: Mẹ tôi đang nấu ăn. |
| Becky: “My mother is cooking.” |
| Huyen: Cô ấy đang nghe nhạc. |
| Becky: “She is listening to music”. |
| Huyen: Họ đang đi du lịch. |
| Becky: “They are traveling”. Please note that... |
| Huyen: ...đang… |
| Becky: ...can also be added before an adjective to express how the speaker is feeling at the moment. |
| Huyen: Tôi đang bận. |
| Becky: “I’m busy.” This again refers to the moment at which the person is speaking. |
| Huyen: Cô ấy đang tức giận. |
| Becky: “She is angry.” Well, that is about it for the present continuous tense in Vietnamese. As you can see, the rule is much simpler than in English, wouldn’t you agree? |
| Huyen: Can you practice saying “I’m learning Vietnamese” by using the present continuous tense? |
| Becky: It’s probably become so simple for you now. But don’t forget to review the whole lesson using the lesson notes. |
Outro |
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| Becky: That’s it for this lesson. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you again in the next lesson. |
| Huyen: Tạm biệt. |
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