Learn how to tell time in Vietnamese
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Intro |
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| Michael: How do you ask for the time in Vietnamese? |
| Nguyet: And how do you tell the time? |
| Michael: At VietnamesePod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: during a school break, Sasha Lee asks her classmate Lan Ly about the time. They don't want to be late for their next class. Sasha asks, |
| "What time is it?" |
| Sasha Lee: Mấy giờ rồi nhỉ? |
| Dialogue |
| Sasha Lee: Mấy giờ rồi nhỉ? |
| Lan Lý: Ba giờ mười lăm. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sasha Lee: Mấy giờ rồi nhỉ? |
| Michael: "What time is it?" |
| Lan Lý: Ba giờ mười lăm. |
| Michael: "It’s a quarter past three." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Asking for the time is one of the most fundamental things in Vietnamese. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask for the time and answer questions about it. You need to know that, while people in Vietnam use both the 12-hour and 24-hour clock systems, they use the 12-hour system more. They also have words for time, |
| Nguyet: thời gian |
| Michael: hour, |
| Nguyet: giờ |
| Michael: minute, |
| Nguyet: phút |
| Michael: and second, |
| Nguyet: giây |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Sasha Lee asks "What time is it?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Nguyet: Mấy giờ rồi nhỉ? |
| Michael: This is the most common way of asking for the time in Vietnamese. The first word here, which is, |
| Nguyet: Mấy |
| Michael: could mean “how much” or “how many.” We’ve already introduced the second word, |
| Nguyet: giờ |
| Michael: which is the Vietnamese word for “hour.” It’s also the word for “o’clock,” by the way. The third word, which is |
| Nguyet: rồi, |
| Michael: is a particle that could mean “already.” Finally, we have the tag question, |
| Nguyet: nhỉ |
| Michael: which could be translated to “huh” in English. If we translate Sasha’s question, we would get something along the lines of “How many hours are there already, huh?” Another common way for asking time in Vietnamese is |
| Nguyet: Bây giờ là mấy giờ? |
| Michael: which means “What time is it now?” If you want to sound more polite, you can ask for the time in this manner instead: |
| Nguyet: Bạn có thể vui lòng cho tôi biết mấy giờ rồi không? |
| Michael: It means, “Can you please tell me what time it is?” |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let’s take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Lan Ly says "It’s a quarter past three?" |
| Nguyet as Lan Ly: Ba giờ mười lăm. |
| Michael: Vietnamese doesn’t use the direct equivalent of the word “quarter,” or |
| Nguyet: phần tư, |
| Michael: when telling the time a quarter past the hour. Instead, the number fifteen is used, which is |
| Nguyet: mười lăm |
| Michael: The hour appears first, which in this case is |
| Nguyet: Ba |
| Michael: or “three,” followed by the time marker, |
| Nguyet: giờ |
| Michael: and “fifteen.” Literally, what we have here is “three hours and fifteen.” If you want to say “a quarter to three,” if referring to minutes between 30 and 59, alternatively, you can use the word, |
| Nguyet: kém, |
| Michael: which means “to,” giving you |
| Nguyet: Ba giờ kém mười lăm. |
| Michael: or “fifteen to three.” When referring to minutes between 1 and 29, you can only use the word |
| Nguyet: phút, |
| Michael: meaning “minutes.” For instance, if the time is 1:40, you will say, |
| Nguyet: Hai giờ kém hai mươi phút. |
| Michael: or “It’s twenty to two.” But, if it’s 2:20, you have to say |
| Nguyet: Bây giờ là hai giờ hai mươi phút. |
| Michael: Although there is no term for “quarter” in Vietnamese, you’ll still hear people referring to “half past,” or |
| Nguyet: rưỡi, |
| Michael: literally “half” in Vietnamese. So, if it’s, for example, half past three, in Vietnamese, you’d say, |
| Nguyet: Ba giờ rưỡi rồi, |
| Michael: meaning “It’s half past three.” |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned three different questions to ask for the time, and also how to answer in various ways. Now, let’s look at some examples to memorize what we have learned. Our first example is |
| Nguyet: Mấy giờ rồi nhỉ? |
| Bây giờ là bốn giờ. |
| Michael: meaning “What time is it? It’s four o’clock.” |
| Nguyet: Bây giờ là mấy giờ? |
| Tám giờ rưỡi. |
| Michael: meaning “What time is it now? It's half past eight.” |
| And, for our final example, we have, |
| Nguyet: Bạn có thể vui lòng cho tôi biết mấy giờ rồi không? |
| Một giờ mười lăm. |
| Michael: “Can you please tell me what time it is? It’s a quarter past one.” |
| Expansion |
| Michael: As mentioned, Vietnamese use the 12-hour system. This means they refer to specific times of the day when telling time. The word used when telling time in the morning is |
| Nguyet: sáng |
| Michael: This word literally means “bright,” but, in relation to telling the time, it stands for “a.m.,” such as in |
| Nguyet: sáu giờ sáng, |
| Michael: or “It’s six a.m.” For telling time in the afternoon, the word used is |
| Nguyet: trưa, |
| Michael: which is the same word for “late” in Vietnamese. In relation to telling the time, it stands for “p.m.,” such as in |
| Nguyet: mười hai giờ trưa |
| Michael: or “It’s 12 noon.” As for telling time in the evening, the word used is |
| Nguyet: chiều, |
| Michael: which means “evening.” So, if the time is “7 p.m.,” you say, |
| Nguyet: Bảy giờ chiều |
| Michael: Finally, to tell time late at night, you use either of the words, |
| Nguyet: tối |
| Michael: and |
| Nguyet: đêm, |
| Michael: such as when you say, |
| Nguyet: Mười một giờ tối. |
| Michael: “It’s eleven o'clock in the evening.” |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Just like most Asian cultures, Vietnamese can be a bit lax when it comes to time and would come late, or |
| Nguyet: muộn, |
| Michael: to casual meetings. However, this is not the case when they have to attend a business meeting, in which case, they would always arrive “on time,” or |
| Nguyet: đúng giờ |
| Michael: This is not to say that Vietnamese people take their relationships for granted. For Vietnamese people, family and friends are of utmost importance. It’s just that they understand when it’s okay to be flexible when it comes to time and when it’s important to be on-the-nose. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Nguyet: Tạm biệt! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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