Learn about interjections in Vietnamese
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Intro |
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| Michael: What are Interjections? |
| Nguyet: And are they commonly used in Vietnamese? |
| Michael: At VietnamesePod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Karen Lee is at a restaurant and wants to order a bowl of pho. She tries to catch the waiter's attention, |
| "Hey, you!" |
| Karen Lee: Em ơi! |
| Dialogue |
| Karen Lee: Em ơi! |
| Nghĩa Ngô: Chị gọi món gì ạ? |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Karen Lee: Em ơi! |
| Michael: "Hey, you!" |
| Nghĩa Ngô: Chị gọi món gì ạ? |
| Michael: "What food would you like to order?" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, we will be looking at interjections in Vietnamese. The Vietnamese word for "interjection" is: |
| Nguyet: thán từ |
| Michael: Interjections are words that are placed between other words to express a feeling or a spontaneous reaction. They can also stand on their own and are traditional parts of speech in their own right, in the same way that nouns, verbs, and other words are. In a way, interjections could even be seen as the emojis of language! |
| Michael: A perfect example of an interjection is "Ouch!" You can combine it with other words, as in, "Ouch, that hurts!" It can stand on its own too, as in when you step on a piece of Lego and say, |
| Nguyet: Ối! |
| Michael: "Ouch!" Just like in most languages, Vietnamese interjections are used to express certain emotions, such as pain, disgust, fear, shock, and awe. There are also interjections that are associated with noise, food, and annoying situations. Speaking of annoying situations, a very common Vietnamese interjection associated with annoyance is |
| Nguyet: Ê! |
| Michael: or "Hey!" in English. This interjection is used when you want to get someone’s attention to reprimand them for doing something irritating. Another common interjection in Vietnamese is |
| Nguyet: À! |
| Michael: which is something you would exclaim if you have realized something for the first time. Think of it as the expression "Eureka!" or "Aha!" The same interjection could mean "I see" or simply "Oh," such as when you say, |
| Nguyet: À, nó có nghĩa như vậy. |
| Michael: "Oh, so that’s what it means." A similar interjection would be |
| Nguyet: Chao ôi |
| Michael: which could mean "Alas," such as when you say, |
| Nguyet: Chao ôi! Nó đã kết thúc! |
| Michael: "Alas! It has come to an end!" It’s also interesting to know that this expression sounds very similar to "Chào", which means "Hello" and "Bye" in Vietnamese. |
| Michael: Now, let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Karen Lee says, "Hey, you?" |
| Nguyet: Em ơi! |
| Michael: Karen needed to get the waiter’s attention. Perhaps the place was a bit noisy and she had to exclaim |
| Nguyet: ơi! |
| Michael: This could mean "Hey" in English, and could also be used as an expression of surprise. Notice how Karen refers to the waiter as |
| Nguyet: Em |
| Michael: A pronoun used to address someone who is younger than you. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, we talked about common Vietnamese interjections, and we learned that they are used to express certain emotions, such as pain, disgust, fear, shock, and awe. Most of the ones we've learned have their equivalents in English, and, just like English interjections, Vietnamese interjections can stand on their own or appear with other words. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: So far, we've covered some of the most common interjections in Vietnamese. Why don’t we explore more Vietnamese interjections? Let’s start with |
| Nguyet: cái gì! |
| Michael: Here, we have the pronoun for "what," |
| Nguyet: gì |
| Michael: and the classifier used for emphasis, |
| Nguyet: cái |
| Michael: The result is the interjection, "What?!" or "What the heck?!" Here’s another one: |
| Nguyet: can chi! |
| Michael: This interjection could mean "It doesn’t matter!" or "It’s no big deal!" depending on the context. It’s composed of the word |
| Nguyet: can, |
| Michael: which means "to bother," and the word |
| Nguyet: chi, |
| Michael: which is the Central Vietnamese version of the classifier, |
| Nguyet: gì |
| Michael: Another Vietnamese interjection on our list is |
| Nguyet: chết cha |
| Michael: which literally means "dead dude." As an interjection, this phrase is used to express that one is in trouble. It’s like saying, "Oops," or "doh" in English, such as when you say, |
| Nguyet: Chết cha! Tao quên làm bài tập rồi! |
| Michael: "Oops! I forgot to do my homework!" And then there’s the Vietnamese interjection for when you want to apologize for a mistake you’ve committed: |
| Nguyet: xin lỗi |
| Michael: or "sorry." It’s composed of the word |
| Nguyet: xin |
| Michael: which means "to beg," and the word |
| Nguyet: lỗi |
| Michael: which means "mistake." You can use it to say something like |
| Nguyet: Xin lỗi, tớ không cố ý. |
| Michael: "Sorry! I didn’t mean to do that!" |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Just like in other languages, some interjections in Vietnamese come in the form of onomatopoeia. These are words that imitate the sound they describe. For instance, there's the word |
| Nguyet: cục ta cục tác, |
| Michael: an interjection that describes a cackling sound. Another one would be |
| Nguyet: tùng |
| Michael: which imitates the sound produced when you pound a huge drum. |
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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