Learn how to use adverbs of frequency
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hey there! I’m Brandon and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is lower beginner Season 1, Lesson 12 - How Often Do You Go To the Movies in Vietnam? |
| Huyen: Xin chào! I’m Huyen. |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you will learn how to use adverbs of frequency. The conversation takes place at the office during break time and is between Lan and Huy. |
| Huyen: The speakers are colleagues, but they are quite close, so they will be using informal Vietnamese. |
| Brandon: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Huy: Em xem phim "Fast and furious 6" chưa? |
| Lan: Chưa ạ. Anh xem chưa? |
| Huy: Anh đã đi xem cuối tuần trước rồi. |
| Lan: Anh có hay đi xem phim không? |
| Huy: Có, anh thường đi xem một tuần một lần. |
| Lan: Thế ạ? Em thì thỉnh thoảng mới đi thôi. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Huy: Em xem phim "Fast and furious 6" chưa? |
| Lan: Chưa ạ. Anh xem chưa? |
| Huy: Anh đã đi xem cuối tuần trước rồi. |
| Lan: Anh có hay đi xem phim không? |
| Huy: Có, anh thường đi xem một tuần một lần. |
| Lan: Thế ạ? Em thì thỉnh thoảng mới đi thôi. |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Huy: Em xem phim "Fast and furious 6" chưa? |
| Brandon: Have you seen “Fast and Furious 6" yet? |
| Lan: Chưa ạ. Anh xem chưa? |
| Brandon: Not yet. Have you? |
| Huy: Anh đã đi xem cuối tuần trước rồi. |
| Brandon: I went to watch it last weekend. |
| Lan: Anh có hay đi xem phim không? |
| Brandon: Do you often go to the cinema? |
| Huy: Có, anh thường đi xem một tuần một lần. |
| Brandon: Yes, I often go once a week. |
| Lan: Thế ạ? Em thì thỉnh thoảng mới đi thôi. |
| Brandon: Really? I only go sometimes. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Huyen, how often do you go to the cinema? |
| Huyen: Not very often, twice or three times a year. |
| Brandon: Do Vietnamese people love movies? |
| Huyen: Yes, they do, especially young people. Going to the cinema is one of the most popular pastimes among young Vietnamese people. |
| Brandon: I guess it’s not too expensive? |
| Huyen: Right, it costs from 50,000 dong to 150,000 dong per ticket, depending on the facilities at the movie theater. That is around 2.3 to 7 US dollars. |
| Brandon: What kinds of movies do they watch? |
| Huyen: Everything. Whatever’s popular in the world is also popular in Vietnam. The latest Hollywood, Korean, Chinese, and any other hot movies are shown in all movie theaters a few weeks after they are released. |
| Brandon: Are they dubbed or subtitled? |
| Huyen: Subtitled movies are more popular because they are quicker to be released. But the movies shown on TV are mostly dubbed. |
| Brandon: Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: The first word we shall see is: |
| Huyen: anh[natural native speed] |
| Brandon: You (when the speaker is talking with a slightly older man) OR I or me (when the speaker is a man talking with a younger person) |
| Huyen: anh [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: anh [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: em [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: I or me (when the speaker is talking with a slightly older person) OR you (when the speaker is talking with a younger person) |
| Huyen: em [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: em [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: xem [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to look, to see, to watch |
| Huyen: xem [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: xem [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: phim [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: movie |
| Huyen: phim [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: phim [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: chưa [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: yet, not yet, not |
| Huyen: chưa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: chưa [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: cuối tuần trước [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: last weekend |
| Huyen: cuối tuần trước [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: cuối tuần trước [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: hay [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: often |
| Huyen: hay [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: hay [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: một tuần một lần [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: once a week |
| Huyen: một tuần một lần [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: một tuần một lần [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| Huyen: thỉnh thoảng [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: sometimes |
| Huyen: thỉnh thoảng [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: thỉnh thoảng [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word we have is... |
| Huyen: chưa |
| Brandon: Which means “not yet”. You put it before a verb to mean that one action isn’t done. |
| Huyen: It’s also added at the end of a yes or no question in the present perfect tense, to ask if an action is done or not. |
| Brandon: For example |
| Huyen: Bạn ăn tối chưa? |
| Brandon: Have you had dinner yet? |
| Huyen: Tôi chưa chuẩn bị xong tài liệu cho buổi họp. |
| Brandon: I haven’t finished preparing materials for the meeting yet. |
| Huyen: The second word is “cuối tuần trước”. |
| Brandon: Last weekend. |
| Huyen: The word “trước” in this phrase means “before” or “ago”. |
| Brandon: You can add it after a time phrase to refer to the past. |
| Huyen: Tháng trước |
| Brandon: Last month |
| Huyen: Tuần trước |
| Brandon: Last week |
| Huyen: Ba ngày trước |
| Brandon: Three days ago |
| Huyen: Một giờ trước |
| Brandon: One hour ago. |
| Huyen: The final word is “hay”. |
| Brandon: We already learned that it means “good” or “interesting”. In this lesson, we learned another meaning, which is “often”. |
| Huyen: “hay” in this case is used as an adverb of frequency. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear two sample sentences. |
| Huyen: Cuốn sách này hay quá. |
| Brandon: This book is so interesting. |
| Huyen: Tôi hay đọc cuốn sách này vào buổi tối. |
| Brandon: I often read this book at night. |
| Huyen: Do you see the difference in meaning of the word “hay” in those two sentences? |
| Brandon: Let’s hear one more example using |
| Huyen “hay” |
| Brandon as an adverb of frequency. |
| Huyen: Mẹ tôi hay dậy vào lúc 6 giờ sáng. |
| Brandon: My mother often gets up at 6 a.m. Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use adverbs of frequency. |
| Huyen: We have the example Anh thường đi xem phim một tuần một lần. |
| Brandon: Which means "I often go watch a film once a week" |
| Huyen: Adverbs of frequency are put after the subject and before the verb of a sentence, to describe the frequency of the action expressed by the verb. |
| Brandon: The verb is in its bare form and does not change if the subject is singular or plural. Like in English, the adverbs of frequency in Vietnamese are used in the simple present tense. Let’s learn some adverbs of frequency in Vietnamese. |
| Huyen: luôn or luôn luôn |
| Brandon: always |
| Huyen: thường xuyên |
| Brandon: usually |
| Huyen: thường or hay |
| Brandon: often |
| Huyen: thỉnh thoảng: |
| Brandon: “sometimes”, or “occasionally” |
| Huyen: hiếm khi |
| Brandon: “rarely”, or, “seldom” |
| Huyen: một tuần một lần |
| Brandon: Once a week |
| Huyen: một tháng một lần |
| Brandon: Once a month |
| Huyen: một năm một lần |
| Brandon: Once a year |
| Huyen: hàng ngày, hàng tháng, hàng năm |
| Brandon: respectively, every day, every month, every year |
| Brandon: Let’s hear some examples. |
| Huyen: Tôi không bao giờ hút thuốc. |
| Brandon: “I never smoke.” |
| Huyen: Hàng ngày cô ấy đi xe đạp đến trường. |
| Brandon: "Everyday she goes to school by bike." |
| Huyen: Note that “hàng ngày”, “hàng tháng” or “hàng năm” is put at the beginning or end of a sentence. |
| Brandon: Another example is: |
| Huyen: Tôi thỉnh thoảng chơi tennis với đồng nghiệp. |
| Brandon: “I sometimes play tennis with my colleague.” |
| Huyen: Tôi chơi thể thao một tuần một lần. |
| Brandon: “I play sports once a week.” |
| Huyen: To ask about how often someone does something in Vietnamese, a yes or no question is used instead of “how often”. The question starts with the 2nd person pronoun, plus “có hay” meaning “do you often” then add the verb phrase indicating the action after that. |
| Brandon: The question means: “Do you often do something?” |
| Huyen: Anh có hay chơi thể thao không? |
| Brandon: "Do you often play sports?" |
| Huyen: Chị có hay nấu món ăn âu không? |
| Brandon: "Do you often cook Western food?" |
| Huyen: Listeners, how often do you study Vietnamese? Can you ask and answer this question in Vietnamese? |
| Brandon: Let us know in the comments at VietnamesePod101.com! I think it should be pretty simple after studying this lesson? |
Outro |
| Huyen: Well, that’s all for this lesson. For more vocabulary and explanations, please refer to the lesson notes. |
| Brandon: I hope you’ve enjoyed learning with us. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Huyen: Tạm biệt. |
Comments
HideHi Listeners! How often do you go to the movies? *Try answering in Vietnamese!
Hi Sam,
Thanks for your post.
It's a good and correct question and way to answer.
Hope that you enjoy the lesson.
Cheers,
Chi
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Bạn có hay học tiếng việt không ?
Tôi học tiếng việt hàng ngày!
cảm ơn các bạn. ❤️️
Hi Lawrence,
Thank you for posting. You are correct, "thì" can swap with "chỉ" as "only", while "mới" is a particle which emphasizes the adverb "thì" in this sentence 'Em thì thỉnh thoảng mới đi thôi.'
"Mới" can also be used as a particle to indicate something just happened ("Tôi mới ăn cơm xong.") or to indicate something a behavior/ action happened after another one mentioned before it ("Ăn cơm xong tôi mới xem tivi.").
Hope this helps and let us know if you have further questions.
Sincerely,
Khanh
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Can you explain why Lan says 'Em THÌ thỉnh thoảng MỚI đi thôi'? I guess that you can swap out 'thì' for 'chỉ' here, but what function does 'mới' have? Can you use it to talk about a thing or place that was mentioned before?
Thanks!
Hi Kn,
1. There is a little bit difference between "hiểu" and "biết":
Tôi hiểu rồi = I understood. (Literally, it means: I understand already)
Tôi biết rồi = I knew it. (Literally, it means: I know it already)
So if somebody explains something for you and you want to say you got it, then it will be nice and humble if you use "tôi hiểu rồi".
2. "luôn" and "luôn luôn" both means "always" ("luôn luôn" sounds a little bit more emphasised)
And yes, you can use "lúc nào cũng" instead of "luôn" and "luôn luôn".
3. The differences between "cứng" and "cũng" are:
- How your mouth moves:
"Cứng" has "ư" followed by "ng". This compound "ưng" : when you pronounce it, you do NOT close your mouth.
"Cũng" has "u" followed by "ng". This compound "ung" : you close your mouth and get some air in your mouth when you pronounce it.
- Tone marks :
"cứng" has the high raising tone while "cũng" has Broken rising tone (ngã - tilde): Start just a little above the normal voice range, dip down a bit then raise it suddenly. For example: ngã rẽ, mẫu mã.
(You can have a look at this link for more information about Vietnamese tone marks: https://www.vietnamesepod101.com/2013/04/24/pronunciation-3-vietnamese-tones/ )
Best,
Huyền.
Team VietnamesPod101.com
Tôi hiểu (Tôi biết rồi). = I understand (I got it)
Tôi luôn nghĩ về bạn. luôn = always.
I have also seen luôn luôn (e.g. Tôi luôn luôn mua quá nhiều thực phẩm khi đói). Is this common in vietnamese?. Like in English kids say "I love my mom very very much".
By the way, Can we us 'lúc nào cũng' instead of 'luôn'. e.g Trông An lúc nào cũng vội vàng.(she is always in a hurry)
For "Tôi cũng thích xem phim". Yesterday I learnt "cứng" means hard. Reading the whole sentence "Tôi cũng thích xem phim" - I hard love films, does not make sense. So, I looked-up 'cũng' in the dictionary. Of course it means 'also'.
I wonder if we could remember how to pronounce "cứng" and 'cũng' using falling, flat, rising tones. e.g. it seems one is a flat tone the other is rising.
Chào bạn Kn,
Tôi hiểu bạn muốn nói gì. Bạn vui tính quá !
Let me give you some tips about Vietnamese sentence structure.
In general, adverbs of frequency usually stand before verbs. So you want to say: "I always think about you", you say : "Tôi luôn nghĩ về bạn." or "I rarely go to the cinema.", you say: "Tôi hiếm khi đi xem phim."
Tôi cũng thích xem phim. Bạn thích xem phim gì?
Huyền.
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Chao Huyen,
Toi đang nghĩ luôn về bạn. Anh yêu em. đi xem phim?
Toi đi xem phim hiếm khi, Bọn mình phải đi xem phim.
Hi Lawrence,
"mới" in this sentence is a kind of supporting word to emphasize that the frequency of doing something is "not much/not often" or it has been a long time you haven't done something until this time. It is difficult to find an equivalent in English but I'll give you more examples so that you can understand the nuance of this word.
1. Tôi thỉnh thoảng mới gặp nó. (I meet him sometimes only)
2. Hơn một năm nay tôi mới đi xem phim ở rạp đấy. (It has been more than one year I haven't been to a cinema until this time)
3. Ba ngày nay nó mới được ngủ ngon. (Only until now he is able to sleep well after 3 days)
Cheers,
Giang
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Hi cô giáo,
Em thì thỉnh thoảng mới đi thôi.
Can kindly explain what does mới here mean?