Learn how to talk about past events
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 20 - Talking About Yourself in Vietnamese. Becky here. |
| Huyen: Xin Chào. I'm Huyen. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the simple past tense in Vietnamese. The conversation takes place at a house. |
| Huyen: It's between Anne and Linh's family members. |
| Becky: The speakers are of different ages, so they will be speaking both formal and informal Vietnamese depending on who they are talking to. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
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| Linh's mother: Cháu đã đến Việt Nam mấy lần rồi? |
| Anne: Đây là lần thứ hai ạ. Cháu đã đến đây lần đầu tiên vào hai năm trước. |
| Mai: Tại sao chị lại học tiếng Việt ạ? |
| Anne: Khi ở Mỹ, chị đã học về châu Á, và đặc biệt thích văn hóa và lịch sử Việt Nam. Vì vậy chị đã quyết định học tiếng Việt. |
| Mai: Chị đã đi những nơi nào ở Việt Nam rồi ạ? |
| Anne: Chị đã đi Hà Nội và vịnh Hạ Long. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Linh's mother: Cháu đã đến Việt Nam mấy lần rồi? |
| Anne: Đây là lần thứ hai ạ. Cháu đã đến đây lần đầu tiên vào hai năm trước. |
| Mai: Tại sao chị lại học tiếng Việt ạ? |
| Anne: Khi ở Mỹ, chị đã học về châu Á, và đặc biệt thích văn hóa và lịch sử Việt Nam. Vì vậy chị đã quyết định học tiếng Việt. |
| Mai: Chị đã đi những nơi nào ở Việt Nam rồi ạ? |
| Anne: Chị đã đi Hà Nội và vịnh Hạ Long. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Linh's mother: How many times have you been to Vietnam? |
| Anne: This is my second time. I came here for the first time two years ago. |
| Mai: Why are you learning Vietnamese? |
| Anne: When I was in America, I studied Asia and particularly liked Vietnamese culture and history. So I decided to learn Vietnamese. |
| Mai: Which places have you visited in Vietnam? |
| Anne: I have been to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: In our dialogue Anne said that she visited Ha Long Bay. Listeners, did you know that it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site? |
| Huyen: Ha Long Bay means “the descending dragon” bay and is a popular tourist destination in Quang Ninh, a province in northern Vietnam. It is about 170 km east of Hanoi. |
| Becky: How can we get there? |
| Huyen: You can get there by bus, train or even ship. It is a must-see spot in the north of Vietnam. |
| Becky: The bay is known for thousands of limestone karsts and caves, as well as various isles of different shapes and sizes. |
| Huyen: Make sure you check it out when you’re in Vietnam, listeners! |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Huyen: đi/đến [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to go, to come |
| Huyen: đi/đến [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: đi/đến [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: lần [natural native speed] |
| Becky: time |
| Huyen: lần [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: lần [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: lần đầu tiên [natural native speed] |
| Becky: the first time |
| Huyen: lần đầu tiên [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: lần đầu tiên [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: lần thứ hai [natural native speed] |
| Becky: the second time |
| Huyen: lần thứ hai [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: lần thứ hai [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: học [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to learn |
| Huyen: học[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: học [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: tiếng Việt [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Vietnamese language |
| Huyen: tiếng Việt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: tiếng Việt [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: đặc biệt [natural native speed] |
| Becky: especially, special |
| Huyen: đặc biệt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: đặc biệt [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: quyết định [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to decide |
| Huyen: quyết định [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: quyết định [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Huyen: những nơi nào [natural native speed] |
| Becky: what places, which places |
| Huyen: những nơi nào [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: những nơi nào [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last.. |
| Huyen: vịnh Hạ Long [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Ha Long Bay |
| Huyen: vịnh Hạ Long [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: vịnh Hạ Long [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first words are.. |
| Huyen: đi and đến |
| Becky: which means “to go” and “to come” respectively. |
| Huyen: When the words đi đến are used together, đến means the same as the preposition “to” in English. In some situations, the speaker is going to a place away from him or her, but only uses đến. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example? |
| Huyen: Sure. Tôi đang đến trường, |
| Becky: which means “I am going to school.” |
| Huyen: Anh ấy đang đến công ty. |
| Becky: “He is going to the company” |
| Huyen: Listeners, in these two sample sentences, đến does not mean “to come.” It is đến from the phrase đi đến but the verb đi is hidden here. |
| Becky: Is there any rule for this? |
| Huyen: When đi is hidden like this, the place that the person is going to is often a familiar place, like their school, company, or office. If you’re not sure if it is fine to hide đi, simply use both đi đến plus the noun of the place. |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Huyen: học |
| Becky: which means “to learn.” You can use this word to talk about the process of acquiring knowledge or skill about something. |
| Huyen: We also use it to talk about our major at university or school. |
| Becky: So, listeners, you can use it the same way as the English “to learn.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Becky: In this lesson you’ll learn how to use the simple past tense in Vietnamese. To form the past tense please put the helping verb.. |
| Huyen: đã |
| Becky: ...in front of the main verb to express actions or states in the past. |
| Huyen: After it you can add rồi, which means “already.” You can put rồi after the main verb if there’s no object, or after the object if any. Rồi is optional and we use it to emphasize that the action has been completed. |
| Becky: This structure won’t change no matter whether the subject is singular or plural. So, once again, the whole sentence structure will be… |
| Huyen: subject…. đã….main verb….object and the optional rồi. In daily conversation, some people don't use đã, – that’s just their habit. |
| Becky: Huyen, where in the sentence should we put the time expression? |
| Huyen: You can add it at the beginning of the sentence or after the verb phrase and in front of rồi. |
| Becky: Ok. Listeners, the simple past tense in Vietnamese is used in two cases. First, to describe an action that happened at a specific time in the past. For example… |
| Huyen: Lan đã đi du lịch Mỹ vào tháng trước |
| Becky: “Lan traveled to America last month.” And second, to describe a completed action. In this case please use the Vietnamese word for “already…” |
| Huyen: rồi |
| Becky: For example... |
| Huyen: Mai đã gặp Hoa rồi. |
| Becky: “Mai met Hoa already.” |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Huyen: Cảm ơn các bạn. |
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