Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Hello and welcome to Southern Vietnamese Survival Phrases brought to you by VietnamesePod101.com. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Southern Vietnam. You’ll be surprised at how far a little Vietnamese will go. Now before we jump in, remember to stop by VietnamesePod101.com. There, you’ll find the accompanying PDF lesson notes and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

Lesson focus
Southern Vietnamese Survival Phrases lesson 7 - I Don't Understand in Southern Vietnamese
"I don't understand" is gonna be a very useful phrase because most of the time, maybe even 100% of the time, you won't understand. In the beginning, there will likely an adjustment period, during which, your ears need to get used to Vietnamese. In Vietnamese, “I don’t understand” is Tôi không hiểu.
Tôi không hiểu.
Let’s break it down by syllable: Tôi không hiểu.
Let’s hear it again, Tôi không hiểu.
The first word tôi means “I” or “me.” Tôi is said in the flat tone.
Let’s hear it again, tôi.
And, tôi.
This is followed by không. You may recall that we heard không used in the Vietnamese phrase for “You’re welcome” - Không có gì. As a reminder, không means “no” and is said in the flat tone.
So again, không.
không
Finally, the entire phrase ends with hiểu which means “understand.” Hiểu is said in the falling-rising tone.
Let’s practice it, hiểu.
And hiểu.
So altogether, we have - Tôi không hiểu.
Tôi không hiểu.
The first two words, “I don’t” or tôi không is very useful. We can use it express two additional phrases by replacing the last word. So, for example, to say “I don't know,” we would say - Tôi không biết.
Tôi không biết.
Biết is said in the rising tone.
Let’s practice it, biết.
biết
So, to say, “I don’t know,” we would say Tôi không biết.
Tôi không biết.
You can also use tôi không in the phrase “It’s not clear” Tôi không rõ.
Tôi không rõ.
Rõ is said in the broken rising tone and means “clear.”
So once again, rõ.
rõ
Tôi không rõ literally means "I am not clear," but we use it as the English equivalent for "It's not clear."
So being new to Vietnamese, you can use these phrases to get out of sticky situations. Maybe, for ladies, when a guy is asking for your number, you can say Tôi không hiểu, which means “I don’t understand.”
And this works for guys too. If a lady asks for your number, you can say Tôi không biết, Tôi không biết, which means “I don’t know.” But most likely for guys, you’ll probably want to give out your number, so you’ll have to check out a later lesson for numbers 1 through 10.

Outro
Okay, to close out today’s lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for shouting it out loud. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so, chúc may mắn, this means “good luck” in Vietnamese.
Okay, here we go!
“I don't understand.” - Tôi không hiểu.
Tôi không hiểu.
Tôi không hiểu.
“I don't know.” - Tôi không biết.
Tôi không biết.
Tôi không biết.
“It's not clear.” - Tôi không rõ.
Tôi không rõ.
Tôi không rõ.
All right, that's going to do it for this lesson. Remember to stop by VietnamesePod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF lesson notes. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. Bye!

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