Overview of Vietnamese Tenses - Vietnamese Grammar Guide

Learn about the tenses

Lesson Transcript

Want to speak real Vietnamese from your first lesson?

Chào các bạn, mình là Linh. Rất vui được gặp lại các bạn hôm nay.

Hi everyone, my name is Linh. Welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Vietnamese.

I have wanted to do this video for so long because it talks about the tenses in Vietnamese.

You'll be surprised, but the tenses in Vietnamese turn out very very easy.

There are some rules, but it's not as complicated as English.

It's just easy. I think this is one of the easiest things about Vietnamese that you will feel relieved.

Now let's get started.

What is the present tense in Vietnamese?

For the past, we have

Quá khứ

For the present, we have

Hiện tại

And for the future, we have

Tương lai

What is the present tense in Vietnamese?

This one is super easy because you don't have to remember so many forms of verbs to talk about the past like in English.

It's that you only need to remember one word:

đã

(dấu ngã)

Đã actually means “awesome” as well.

So every time you talk about the past tense, just think about awesome because it's too easy.

Now let's take a look at some examples to talk about the time first.

For yesterday, we have

Hôm qua

For last week, we have

Tuần trước

For last year, we have

Năm ngoái

Ok?

Hôm qua, tuần trước or năm ngoái for example. So those are 3 typical words to talk about the time in the past, right?

Now let's take a look at the example using the word đã

Tôi đã học tiếng Việt năm ngoái.

That means “I learned or I studied Vietnamese last year.”

But in case you don't remember or you forgot the word đã, then actually you don't have to put it in. Instead, if you want to say

Tôi học tiếng Việt năm ngoái, it's completely fine.

And people will still understand that you are talking about the past.

Tôi học tiếng Việt năm ngoái.

So overall, with or without đã, it's completely fine as long as you mention the time.

For example, hôm qua, tuần trước, or năm ngoái, then people will understand that you are talking about the past.

Now let's take a look at another example.

Tôi đã đến Thái Lan tuần trước.

So here that means “I went to Thailand last week.”

Do you remember that we also have a video talking about countries?

If you don't remember, check it out in the video list.

So Tôi đã đến Thái Lan tuần trước.

means “I went to Thailand last week.”

And even if you say Tôi đến Thái Lan tuần trước, it's completely fine and it's still correct.

Tôi đã gặp Linh hôm qua.

Tôi đã gặp Linh hôm qua means “I met Linh yesterday”.

And even if you don't use đã, Tôi gặp Linh hôm qua is still completely fine.

We just talked about the past and you know that đã is optional.

You can use it or you don't have to use it. That's fine.

But when we talk about the present and the future, it's a must.

For the present, we use

Đang

Đang means you are doing something or you are doing something at the moment or you are doing something now.

I'm giving you some examples so you will see more clearly.

Tôi đang dạy tiếng Việt.

Tôi đang dạy tiếng Việt means “I'm teaching Vietnamese.”

And here you also see đang before the verb dạy.

Tôi đang dạy tiếng Việt.

Easy, right? The structure is also very simple.

Subject + verb + object.

Tôi đang dạy tiếng Việt.

Các bạn đang học tiếng Việt.

That means “You are learning Vietnamese”.

Tôi đang sống ở Sài Gòn.

That means “I'm living in Sài Gòn” or “I'm living in Ho Chi Minh City.”

That means now, at the moment, I'm living here.

Tôi đang sống ở Sài Gòn.

Remember: Subject + verb + object.

Tôi đang sống ở Sài Gòn.

Các bạn đang xem YouTube.

Các bạn đang xem YouTube means “You are watching video.”

Ok, so the structure is very very easy.

Just đang and then the verbs.

After that, it's fine.

You don't have to conjugate the verb.

You don't have to remember any parts of the verb.

Just remember that verb.

Tương lai

Tương lai means “the future”.

And for tương lai, for the time, we have a few words like

Ngày mai

Ngày mai means “tomorrow”.

Tuần sau

Tuần sau means next week.

Tháng sau

Tháng sau means next month.

And sang năm

sang năm

sang năm means next year.

Actually, you can use năm sau but it will be more natural if you say sang năm.

For the future, we will have to remember one word which is sẽ, sẽ (dấu ngã),sẽ.

Sẽ means like “will” or “I'm going to.”

And the structure is also the same: Subject + verb + object.

Các bạn sẽ nói tiếng Việt lưu loát sang năm.

That means “You will speak Vietnamese fluently next year, literally.”

And you will see lưu loát is the new word, right? Which means “fluently”.

And then nói tiếng Việt lưu loát, “speak Vietnamese fluently.”

The structure is very similar to English.

Các bạn sẽ nói tiếng Việt lưu loát sang năm.

Học sinh sẽ đi học lại vào tháng năm.

Học sinh sẽ đi học lại vào tháng năm.”Students will go back to school in May.”

Khi nào hết dịch, tôi sẽ đi du lịch.

That means “When the pandemic is over, I will travel.”

Khi nào hết dịch, tôi sẽ đi du lịch.

Tôi- “I”, sẽ đi du lịch that means “will travel”.

And here you will see khi nào hết dịch means “when the pandemic is over.”

And by the time that you watch this video, I believe that the pandemic would have been over.

And I really really hope that at the point, at this moment, you guys everywhere in the world are completely safe.

Alright, that's it for today. I just want to give you guys an overview about the tenses in Vietnamese.

Just only three words:

Đã- cho quá khứ

Đang- cho hiện tại

Sẽ- cho tương lai

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Thank you so much for watching again and see you in the next one.

Xin chào và hẹn gặp lại.

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