Learn how to express disagreement
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hey there! I’m Brandon and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is lower beginner Season 1, Lesson 13 - Disagreeing With Your Vietnamese Friend |
| Huyen: Xin chào! I’m Huyen. |
| Brandon: In this lesson you'll learn how to express disagreement. The conversation takes place at a clothing shop and is between Minh and An. |
| Huyen: The speakers are friends, so they'll be using informal Vietnamese. |
| Brandon: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Minh: Cậu thấy áo dài này thế nào? |
| An: Đẹp đấy. |
| Minh: Làm quà sinh nhật cho Mary được không? |
| An: Màu tím có vẻ không hợp với cô ấy. |
| Minh: Tớ không nghĩ vậy. Mary da sáng, mặc màu tím hợp mà. |
| An: Nhưng màu tím trông già. |
| Minh: Vậy chọn màu trắng nhé. |
| An: Ừ được đấy. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Minh: Cậu thấy áo dài này thế nào? |
| An: Đẹp đấy. |
| Minh: Làm quà sinh nhật cho Mary được không? |
| An: Màu tím có vẻ không hợp với cô ấy. |
| Minh: Tớ không nghĩ vậy. Mary da sáng, mặc màu tím hợp mà. |
| An: Nhưng màu tím trông già. |
| Minh: Vậy chọn màu trắng nhé. |
| An: Ừ được đấy. |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Minh: Cậu thấy áo dài này thế nào? |
| Brandon: What do you think about this ao dai? |
| An: Đẹp đấy. |
| Brandon: Beautiful. |
| Minh: Làm quà sinh nhật cho Mary được không? |
| Brandon: Will it make a good birthday present for Mary? |
| An: Màu tím có vẻ không hợp với cô ấy. |
| Brandon: Violet doesn't seem to suit her. |
| Minh: Tớ không nghĩ vậy. Mary da sáng, mặc màu tím hợp mà. |
| Brandon: I don't think so. Mary has fair skin, she must look nice in violet. |
| An: Nhưng màu tím trông già. |
| Brandon: But violet looks old. |
| Minh: Vậy chọn màu trắng nhé. |
| Brandon: Then choose the white one. |
| An: Ừ được đấy. |
| Brandon: Yeah, that's nice. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Huyen, ao dai is a traditional Vietnamese outfit, right? |
| Huyen: That’s right. The literal translation is “a long dress” but in English we still use ao dai because there is no exact equivalent. |
| Brandon: I see. And it's also a symbol of Vietnamese culture, so I think the Vietnamese word “ao dai” should be kept like this. Can you describe this outfit a little bit? |
| Huyen: Sure. It's usually made of silk, with long sleeves and two flaps - one front flap and one back flap, and is worn over pantaloons. |
| Brandon: How long is the flap? |
| Huyen: It's different between men’s ao dai and women’s ao dai. In men’s ao dai, the length of the flap is often to the middle of the calf, while the women’s is often to the ankle. |
| Brandon: Oh, is there ao dai for men, too? I thought it was only for women. |
| Huyen: Yes, there is. But it's mostly worn by women, so the image of a Vietnamese women wearing ao dai is more familiar to people. |
| Brandon: I think it would be interesting to see how the outfit looks on Vietnamese men too, though. |
| Huyen: Yeah, you can search for some images online. In reality, some men wear ao dai on their wedding day if they want to have a traditional wedding party. |
| Brandon: Interesting. But I see that the ao dai for women is a tight-fitting type of dress, and it’s very personalized, right? |
| Huyen: Right. That’s why ao dai is often tailor-made for each body size. The tight-fitting feature increases the femininity of the women wearing it. |
| Brandon: Listeners, please check the lesson notes for more information about this beautiful traditional outfit. Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: The first word we shall see is: |
| Huyen: thấy [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to see, to feel, to think |
| Huyen: thấy [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: thấy [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: áo dài [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: ao dai (Vietnamese traditional outfit, mostly worn by women) |
| Huyen: áo dài [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: áo dài [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: làm [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to do |
| Huyen: làm [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: làm [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: quà sinh nhật [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: birthday present |
| Huyen: quà sinh nhật [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: quà sinh nhật [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: màu tím [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: violet (color) |
| Huyen: màu tím [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: màu tím [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: hợp [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to fit, to match, get on with, suitable |
| Huyen: hợp [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: hợp [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: cô ấy [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: she, her |
| Huyen: cô ấy [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: cô ấy [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: da [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: skin |
| Huyen: da [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: da [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: sáng [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: bright, fair (skin) |
| Huyen: sáng [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: sáng [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| Huyen: màu trắng [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: white (color) |
| Huyen: màu trắng [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: màu trắng [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 is… |
| Huyen: “thấy”. |
| Brandon: This verb originally means “to see,” but it's also commonly used to express an opinion or idea, like in this dialogue, or it's used to express feelings. In this case, it means “to think” or “to feel.” |
| Huyen: For example, Sáng nay, tôi thấy Mai đi vào cửa hàng máy tính. |
| Brandon: “This morning, I saw Mai going to a computer shop.” |
| Huyen: Tôi thấy hơi mệt. |
| Brandon: “I feel a little tired.” |
| Huyen: Tôi thấy là cô ấy rất sáng tạo. |
| Brandon: “I think she's very creative.” |
| Huyen: The second word is làm |
| Brandon: This is a very useful verb and has a lot of meanings. It can mean “to do” as in… |
| Huyen: làm bài tập |
| Brandon: "do homework" |
| Huyen: làm vườn |
| Brandon: "do the gardening" |
| Huyen: làm việc nhà |
| Brandon: "do housework" |
| Brandon: And it also means “to be" or "to work as” when followed by a noun of occupation. |
| Huyen: làm kỹ sư |
| Brandon: "to be, or, to work as an engineer" |
| Huyen: làm giáo viên |
| Brandon: "to be, or, to work as a teacher." |
| Brandon: The next meaning is “to make, to build, or to create” |
| Huyen: làm bánh |
| Brandon: "to make a cake" |
| Huyen: làm nhà |
| Brandon: "to build a house" |
| Huyen: làm thơ |
| Brandon: "to write a poem" |
| Huyen: làm bạn |
| Brandon: "to make a friend" |
| Huyen: “làm” also means “to organize or to hold” such as “làm tiệc sinh nhật” |
| Brandon: "to organize a birthday party" |
| Huyen: làm cỗ |
| Brandon: "to prepare a feast" |
| Huyen: The last meaning is “to function as”. For example, làm chủ ngữ của câu |
| Brandon: "to function as the subject of a sentence." |
| Huyen: làm đòn bẩy |
| Brandon: "to be, or, to function as the driving force behind something." |
| Brandon: Lastly, we’ll learn about colors in the form of an adjective or noun. |
| Huyen: In the dialogue, we heard “màu tím” which literally means “violet color”. This is a noun. “Tím” means “violet” and is the adjective. To make its noun, simply add the word “màu,” which means “color,” in front of its adjective. |
| Brandon: This rule is applied to all other colors. You can also hear in the dialogue another color, which is: |
| Huyen: màu trắng |
| Brandon: "white color." Its adjective is |
| Huyen: trắng |
| Brandon: "white." If an adjective of color or its noun complements another noun, they're both put behind that noun. |
| Huyen: áo tím or áo màu tím. |
| Brandon: "a violet shirt" |
| Huyen: khăn đỏ or khăn màu đỏ |
| Brandon: "a red scarf" Ok, now let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to express disagreement. |
| Huyen: In the dialogue, we had Tớ không nghĩ vậy. |
| Brandon: “I don’t think so.” |
| Huyen: So here, you start with the first person pronoun. In this case, it's “tớ” because the speaker is talking with her friend. In general, the pronoun “tôi” is used. Then add “không” which means “no or not”, followed by the verb “nghĩ,” meaning “to think,” and finally “vậy,” which means “so, or like that”. |
| Brandon: You can also add your own opinion right after this sentence. |
| Huyen: Again, the whole sentence is, Tôi không nghĩ vậy. |
| Brandon: "I don’t think so." Remember the subject pronoun |
| Huyen: ...“tôi” |
| Brandon: ...will change depending on who the speaker is talking to. |
| Huyen: Let’s explain a bit more about the sentence-ending particle “vậy”. This particle is the short form of the phrase “như vậy”, which literally means “like that”. |
| Brandon: It's put at the end of a statement to refer to something that's been said before. |
| Huyen: This particle has a synonym, which is “thế”. Its full form is “như thế,” which also means “like that,” and it's used the same way as “vậy”. |
| Brandon: In other words, they can be used interchangeably. |
| Huyen: It means that you can also express your disagreement by saying, Tôi không nghĩ thế. |
| Brandon: “I don’t think so”. Let’s hear some more examples. |
| Huyen: Tôi nghĩ học đại học là con đường duy nhất để thành công. |
| : |
| Brandon: “I think studying at a university is the only path to success.” |
| Huyen: Tôi không nghĩ vậy. |
| Brandon: “I don’t think so.” |
| Huyen: Hà Nội đẹp nhất vào mùa hè. |
| : |
| Brandon: “Ha Noi is the most beautiful in summer.” |
| Huyen: Tôi không nghĩ thế. Hà Nội đẹp hơn vào mùa thu. |
| Brandon: “I don’t think so. Ha Noi is more beautiful in autumn.” |
| Huyen: In short, to express your disagreement about something that’s been mentioned before, you can say, “Tôi không nghĩ vậy” or “Tôi không nghĩ thế”. |
| Brandon: Then you can add your own opinion after that. |
| Huyen: There are two other ways to talk about disagreement. Firstly, “Tôi không đồng ý với” followed by a pronoun or a person’s name |
| Brandon: "I don’t agree with someone." |
| Huyen: For example, “Tôi không đồng ý với anh” |
| Brandon: "I don’t agree with you." You use this when you're talking with a slightly older man. |
| Huyen: Tôi không đồng ý với họ. |
| Brandon: "I don’t agree with them." |
| Huyen: Tôi không đồng ý với anh Nam. |
| Brandon: "I don’t agree with Mr Nam." |
| Huyen: The second way is, “Tôi không thấy vậy” or “Tôi không thấy thế”. You can hear that only the verb “nghĩ” is changed into the verb “thấy” – the other parts stay the same. |
| Brandon: In most cases, this also means “I don’t think so”. But it also means “I don’t feel so”. |
| Huyen: Did you notice that this is another usage of the verb “thấy,” which we have just learned in the vocabulary section? |
| Brandon: Let’s give our listeners some examples. |
| Huyen: Hôm nay lạnh nhỉ? |
| Brandon: “It’s so cold today, isn’t it?” |
| Huyen: Tôi không thấy thế. |
| Brando: “I don’t feel so.” |
| Huyen: Bộ phim này hay thật. |
| Brandon: “This movie is so good.” |
| Huyen: Tôi không thấy thế. |
| Brandon: “I don’t think so.” Listeners, now you've learned the most common ways to express your disagreement in Vietnamese! |
Outro |
| Huyen: We hope that you will be able to use them in your next chat with a Vietnamese friend. |
| Brandon: For a review of this lesson and more detailed information, please check the accompanying lesson notes. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
| Huyen: Tạm biệt! |
| Brandon: Bye! |
Comments
HideHi Listeners! Let's practice expressing disagreement here.
Hi Mario,
Glad to hear that.
Happy learning!
Chi
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Dear Chi
thank you very much. All clear :)
Regards
Mario
Hi Mario,
1) "da sáng= bright skin (maybe with the meaning of pale skin?)" - No.
Bright skin = da sáng - this word has a positive meaning, used to compliment.
Pale skin = da tái/ da nhợt nhạt (in which "pale" means "tái/ nhợt nhạt")
2) "In this case "da sáng" is used as an adjective?"
- In the conversation, the phrase "Mary da sáng" was shortened, the full sentence can be "Mary có da sáng" (Mary has bright skin). So "da sáng" here is used as a noun.
3) "The sentence "da của Mary sáng" is strange?"
- The sentence "Da của Mary sáng" = "Mary's skin is bright" (in which Mary's skin = da của Mary). So here "da" & "sáng" are used as two independent words.
Hope it can help.
Best,
Chi
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Hello
just a quick question:
da= skin sáng=bright
da sáng= bright skin (maybe with the meaning of pale skin?)
In this case "da sáng" is used as an adjective?
The sentence "da của Mary sáng" is strange?
Thank you and sorry for all my picky questions.
Regards
Hi jenna,
Thank you for your comment. 'mà' in this sentence 'Tớ không nghĩ vậy. Mary da sáng, mặc màu tím hợp mà.' is a final affirmative particle, indicating emphasis that violet looks good on Mary as she has fair skin. Hope this helps and let us know if you have any further questions.
Sincerely,
Khanh
Team VietnamesePod101.com
What does the mean of 'mà' in this sentence?
'Tớ không nghĩ vậy. Mary da sáng, mặc màu tím hợp mà.'
Chao Huyen,
Can you tell me if:
Tôi thấy nó đẹp
means:
I think it's nice/beautiful OR
I find it nice/beautiful.
The online dictionary translation gives me "I find it beautiful". Also,
I recently bought a pocket dictionary and when i look-up "find" it says: (sorry, I have only spelled some words correctly in Vietnamese)
Khám phá, tìm kham pha,, nhan thay, kiem (tien) cap, (vat gi) (n) tim ra, kham pha, nhan thay
the pocket dictionary only has English to Vietnamese, I need Vietnamese to English dictionary to look-up the meaning of "thấy".
Date posted: 28 April 2016 (Huyen, this is just to keep track. Hope you don't mind)
Chào Ashley,
To refer to yourself on this forum, you can use "tôi" for "I" and "bạn" for "you".
If you want to refer me as a female teacher, you can use "cô". Also, you can use "bạn" when talking to me.
Best,
Huyền.
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Cảm ơn co Huyền! Which pronound would be most suitable to refer to myself on this forum? Of course I don't know how old everybody is.
Cảm ơn rắt nhiẻu
Chào Ashley,
Your sentence is quite good. There just some typos that need to be changed. You can say: "Tớ nghĩ là màu tím trông không già. Khi bạn gái tớ mặc màu tím, tớ thấy em ấy rất đẹp!"
You can use another pronoun like "tôi"/ "anh" instead of "tớ" depends on the age of the person who you are talking with.
Best,
Huyền.
Team VietnamesePod101.com
I edited this to make it make more sense!
Tớ nghĩa là màu tím không trông già. Khi bạn gáy tớ mặc màu tím tớ thấy em ấy rắt đẹp!
Please feel free to make any changes to make it more natural or correct! Thanks!
Tứ nghĩ là màu tím không trông già. Khi bạn gáy tứ mặc màu tím tứ thấy em ấy rắt đẹp!
Hi Kn,
The word "da" (skin) is pronounced like /za/ . So for letter "d", in Vietnamese, it sounds like /z/ in the word: "zoo".
Please have a look at "Vietnamese Alphabet" lesson for the sounds of other letters in here: https://www.vietnamesepod101.com/vietnamese-alphabet/
Best,
Huyen
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Hi Kn,
As you mentioned, "nghĩ" means "to think" and "thấy" means "to think.../ to feel/ to see". So when it comes to a case that you want to say "think", you will need to choose between these 2 words.
1. In many cases, you can use both words when you want to show your opinion about something. For example: "I think (that) this shirt is too expensive!", you can say:
- "Tôi nghĩ (là) cái áo này quá đắt!"
- "Tôi thấy (là) cái áo này quá đắt!"
So in this case, it has to be a clause with structure as: "S + adj" or "S+V+(O)" after "nghĩ (là)" and "thấy (là)". ( "là" literally means "that" in this case. It's OK to say with/without it.)
2. Differences:
2.1 You use "nghĩ" and NOT use "thấy" when you just want to say that: (sb) is thinking - or (sb) is thinking about (sth) . For example:
- "What are you doing?" - "I am thinking." In Vietnamese, we say: "Bạn đang làm gì?" - "Tôi đang nghĩ."
- "He is thinking about her." in Vietnamese is : "Anh ấy đang nghĩ về cô ấy."
2.2 You use "thấy" and NOT use "nghĩ" when it follows with an adjective only. For example: In following situation:
"Do you think this dress is nice?" - "I think it's nice". To say "I think it's nice." you can say:
- "Tôi thấy đẹp." ( there is only an adjective "đẹp" after "thấy")
We DO NOT say: "Tôi nghĩ đẹp".
If you want to use "nghĩ", we need to say:
- "Tôi nghĩ nó đẹp." (Referring to number 1 above: after "thấy" and "nghĩ" is: Subject + adj)
- "Tôi thấy nó đẹp." (Referring to number 1 above: after "thấy" and "nghĩ" is: Subject + adj)
Hope this can help you choose when to use "nghĩ" or "thấy" more correctly.
Cheers,
Huyen
Team VietnamesePod101.com
Vietnamese Word for skin 'da' is pronounced 'cha' or 'xha'. Is the 'd' pronounced differently (to english) with any other Vietnamese words. What are those words?
How do we know when to use nghĩ (to think) and when to use thấy (which is also think/feel/see).