Learn about compounding in Vietnamese
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Intro |
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| Michael: What is compounding in Vietnamese? |
| Nguyet: And what is the longest Vietnamese word? |
| Michael: At VietnamesePod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Doanh Duong, a high-school student, wants to meet up with his friend Sasha Lee. He suggests a meeting place, |
| "Let's meet at the high school." |
| Doanh Dương: Hãy gặp ở trường trung học! |
| Dialogue |
| Doanh Dương: Hãy gặp ở trường trung học! |
| Sasha Lee: Được, hẹn gặp lại nhé! |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Doanh Dương: Hãy gặp ở trường trung học! |
| Michael: "Let's meet at the high school." |
| Sasha Lee: Được, hẹn gặp lại nhé |
| Michael: "Ok, see you!" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, you will be learning about compound words in Vietnamese. Compound words are words that have been formed by putting two or more full words together. Sometimes, these compounds can get quite lengthy, which, naturally, leads one to wonder what the longest word in Vietnamese is. We will get to that a bit later. In the meantime, let's look at some compound words in Vietnamese and discuss the basic rules and patterns that regulate their formation. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Doanh Duong says "Let's meet at the high school?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Nguyet as Doanh Duong: Hãy gặp ở trường trung học! |
| Michael: Compound words in Vietnamese are formed in the same way that English compound words are. That is, two or more full words are combined but separated with a space. In our dialogue, the compound word is |
| Nguyet: trường trung học |
| Michael: which means "high school" in English. Let’s break this compound word down to understand it better starting with the word, |
| Nguyet: trường |
| Michael: This is the Vietnamese word for "school." It is followed by the word |
| Nguyet: trung học |
| Michael: which means "secondary education." This word in itself is a compound word, too. It’s composed of the word, |
| Nguyet: trung |
| Michael: which, in this context, means "middle," and the word, |
| Nguyet: học |
| Michael: a Vietnamese verb which means "to study" or "to learn." In this context, it can be translated as "education." Combining all three words, we get "school for secondary education," or in proper terms, "high school." |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: So far, you've learned about compound words in Vietnamese. These are formed when two or more words are combined. Let's look at some more examples of Vietnamese compound words. I'm going to ask you to listen to the native speaker naming three compound words while I translate them. Let’s start with the word, |
| Nguyet: sân bay |
| Michael: This compound word means "airport." The first word in this compound word |
| Nguyet: sân |
| Michael: means "ground," while the second word |
| Nguyet: bay |
| Michael: means "fly." The second word on our list is |
| Nguyet: máy bay |
| Michael: This time, we have a compound word meaning "airplane." It’s the combination of the words |
| Nguyet: máy |
| Michael: "machine" and |
| Nguyet: bay |
| Michael: "fly." Here’s another one: |
| Nguyet: bóng đá |
| Michael: Here, we have the compounding of the words |
| Nguyet: bóng |
| Michael: "ball" and |
| Nguyet: đá |
| Michael: "kick," giving us the word "football." |
| Expansion |
| Michael: There are two main types of compound words in Vietnamese. The first one is |
| Nguyet: từ ghép đẳng lập |
| Michael: or "coordinate compounds." The second one is |
| Nguyet: từ ghép chính phụ |
| Michael: or "subordinate compounds." Coordinate compounds are formed by combining two morphemes, neither of which modify the other. For instance, you have the word |
| Nguyet: quần áo |
| Michael: which means "clothes." What’s unique about coordinate compounds is that each word has its own meaning that is generally related to the resulting word. For instance, the word |
| Nguyet: quần |
| Michael: means "trousers," while the word |
| Nguyet: áo |
| Michael: refers to a top undergarment or shirt. Another example of a coordinate compound is the word |
| Nguyet: chén dĩa |
| Michael: which means "dishes." Individually, the words mean "cup" and "plate," both of which are related to the resulting word. As for subordinate compounds, they are also formed by two morphemes, but one of the words modifies the other. One example is the word |
| Nguyet: xe đạp |
| Michael: or "bicycle." The first word |
| Nguyet: xe |
| Michael: means "wheeled vehicle." This word is the principle component, while the second word |
| Nguyet: đạp |
| Michael: which means "pedal," is the accessory component modifying the first word. Another example would be the word |
| Nguyet: cà chua |
| Michael: which means "tomato." Here, the first word is the principle component. It refers to a group of plants to which tomatoes belong to. The second word is the accessory component modifying the first word. It means "sour." |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Now, regarding the longest word in Vietnamese, the longest that can be written without spaces is the word |
| Nguyet: nghiêng |
| Michael: with only seven letters. It means "inclined." You won’t find very long words in Vietnamese since it’s an isolating language, which means it limits morphemes per word to just one. The only way you can write longer words in Vietnamese is by compounding words, which lets you combine up to eight words. The word "racism" in Vietnamese, for instance, is a compounding of three compound words: |
| Nguyet: chủ nghĩa |
| Michael: which means "ideology," |
| Nguyet: phân biệt |
| Michael: which means "discriminate," and |
| Nguyet: chủng tộc |
| Michael: which means "race." |
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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