Vietnamese personal pronouns
Sign up for free to get all information about private lessons and our available group courses (A1, A2, B2, B2, C1, C2)
Sign up for freeWe offer both private lessons and organized group courses
Sign up for free to get all available courses or contact one of our teachers yourself!
Minh Thanh P.
15.00 €/h
Free trial lesson!
Group lessons!
Tra My T.
15.00 €/h
Free trial lesson!
Group lessons!
Quynh C.
20.00 €/h
Free trial lesson!
Group lessons!
Our offer
Vietnamese is a language that differs a lot from most languages. It does not have the regular set of personal pronouns but we will call it like that for you to understand what we are referring to. It is very important to know how to address people in a respectful manner. That means personal pronouns change dependent on the age, gender and level of respect you have towards the other person. It is very common to refer to one another in familiar terms such as "big brother" or "uncle". For example, if you talk to someone that is about your generation but a bit older than you, you refer to them as "anh" for "older brother" and "chị" for "older sister". If the other person is a lot older than you, i.e. your parents' generation but younger than your parents, you call them "chú" for "younger uncle" and "co" for "younger aunt".
Lesson outline
HideThe personal pronouns
In the lessons before, we used 'tôi' and 'bạn' to refer to 'I' and 'you'. These expressions are not commonly used and sound rather awkward as the relationship is not clear in the conversation. For foreigners however, it is an acceptable way to address each other though.
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| I | tôi |
| you | bạn |
| he | anh ấy |
| she | cô ấy |
| it | nó |
| we | chúng tôi |
| they | họ |
Have a question?
Take online language lessons with a professional teacher
- Native & verified teachers
- Free trial lesson
- Learning materials included
Minh Thanh P.
15.00 €/h
Free trial lesson!
Group lessons!
Quynh C.
20.00 €/h
Free trial lesson!
Group lessons!
Tra My T.
15.00 €/h
Free trial lesson!
Group lessons!
毅華 林. 
20.00 €/h
Free trial lesson!
Group lessons!
How to address a person: you and I in Vietnamese
Tớ + cậu
How to address one another in a very friendly way:
| English | Vietnamese | When |
|---|---|---|
| I | tớ | sweet form of addressing oneself; common between friends in school; more common between girl friends |
| mình | slightly more humble and honest form of addressing to oneself | |
| you | cậu | goes together with tớ/mình |
Tao + mày
How to address one another in a very impolite manner:
| English | Vietnamese | When |
|---|---|---|
| I | tao | during a fight; very rude; when you look down on someone; 'bad parents' would use this word to talk to their children; also common between friends; more common between guy friends than girl friends |
| you | mày | goes together with tao |
Anh/chị + tôi
How to address one another in a more respectful way:
| English | Vietnamese | When |
|---|---|---|
| I | tôi | adults use it (in-laws, neighbours, strangers, colleauges), when real age is not known or inconvenient to ask about the age |
| You | anh chị | respectful way to address another adult; anh for male persons and chị for female; used in official settings (letters, government forms) |
| bạn | very friendly, only used persons your own age or younger since the literal meaing is 'friend' |
Family in Vietnamese
This is a table with the most common personal pronouns in the Vietnamese language. You have to note here that the "I" and "you" are interchangeable. That means if you talk to your father, you use "con" for "I" and "bố" for "you". Your father however, uses "bố" for "I" and "con" for "you".
| I | Literal translation | You | Literal translation | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| con | child | bố | father | only with your own father |
| con | child | mẹ | mother | only with your own mother |
| em | younger sister/brother | anh | older brother | for your older brothers, older cousins and any male person that is older than you but in the same generation |
| em | younger sister/brother | chị | older sister | for your older sisters/cousins and any female person that is older than you but in the same generation |
| anh/chị | older sibling | em | younger sibling | for younger siblings and anyone that is younger than you but still the same generation |
| bố,mẹ, bà, etc. | biological father, mother, grandmother, etc. | con | biological child or grandchild | for a young child that is at least one generation younger than yours |
| ông, bà, bác, chú, etc. | grandfather, - mother, uncle/aunt | cháu | grandchild, niece/ nephew, cousin of junior generations | for a young child; a person at least one generation younger |
| cháu/con | grandchild | ông nội ông ngoại | middle aged man | for the paternal grandfather for the maternal grandfather |
| cháu/con | grandchild | bà nội bà ngoại | middle aged woman | for the paternal grandmother for the maternal grandmother |
| cháu/con | grandchild | ông, bà | middle aged man and woman | for someone that is signigicantly older than you, about two generations older; same generation like your grandparents |
| cháu | niece/nephew | cô | father's younger sister | for those aunts that are younger than your father and women the same generation like your parents but younger than them |
| cháu | niece/nephew | chú | father's younger brother | for those uncles that are younger than your father and men the same generation as your parents but younger than them |
| cháu | niece/nephew | thím | aunt-in-law | for chú's wife |
| cháu | niece/nephew | bác | parent's older sibling | any sibling that is older than your parents or random person that is older but still the same generation |
| cháu | niece/nephew | dì | mother's younger sister; stepmother | |
| cháu | niece/nephew | cậu | mother's younger brother | |
| cháu | niece/nephew | mợ | aunt-in-law | for cậu's wife |
| cháu | niece/nephew | dượng | uncle-in-law, stepfather | for cô's and dì's husband |
| cháu | great-grandchild | cụ/cố | very old person | for a person that is one generation older than your grandparents = great-grandparents |
| cháu | great-great-grandchild | sơ | very very old person | for your great-great-grandparents |
Summary
Although this all might look intimidating and rather difficult, don't let this stop you from learning Vietnamese. Trust me when I say that even Vietnamese natives struggle with this, especially children. That is due to the large families and your "uncle" might be even younger than you since the youngest and oldest sibling could be many years apart.
Exercises
Personal pronouns exercise
Family members exercise
Exercises
Personal pronouns exercise
Family members exercise
What our students say
Unlike in other platforms, all our teachers are manually verified by our professional team. Trust in the experiences of our students.
Hi everybody, my name is Tra My, I have been living in Barcelona for 5 years. I speak Spanish, English, Vietnamese, a little Portuguese and Chinese. I have 4-year experience of teaching Vietnamese language to foreigners. However, I think language is not enough. If you would like to travel, study, work, live in Vietnam, or just look for a Vietnamese partner, you need to know more about Vietnamese culture. Additionally, I was working as a lawyer in Vietnam, so I can advise you on how to start a business in Vietnam and obtain residency permits. We will talk together about it in my classes. I will accompany you from knowing nothing about Vietnam until you can negotiate the price with the Vietnamese people :) I look forward to seeing you in my classes!
A. R.
I am happy to have found My to teach me Vietnamese. She's nice and she can adapt her lessons according to your needs. I definitely recommend this teacher !
Tra My T.
Hi, my name is Ayşegül. I graduated from Hacettepe University in the department of English Language Teaching. I'm an English teacher in a private institution now. I can teach both English and Turkish.
First and foremost, I want to start with one of my favourite quotation from Richard Henry Dana(!) (I'm not sure whether this quotation belongs to him or not, but I liked it. :) “He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” First of all, we as teachers must improve ourselves about everything such as cultural knowledge, technology, best seller books new novels etc. We should keep up with the times and try to understand our students.
Then we should know students’ interests, needs, backgrounds and their level of English / Turkish. If we know the aforementioned things, it would be easier for us to decide what kind of materials we can use to attract their attention. Also, one of the key points is that we should motivate the students to learn. As teachers we should teach our students why they learn language/grammar/vocabulary etc. rather than just memorization. Regarding teaching methods we can use student-centered methods. We should use examples from real life so they can broaden students’ knowledge. Also using examples from real life, help students to internalize the examples. I strongly believe that we should make our students acquire the language from all aspects including reading, listening, writing, and speaking.
All in all, as a teacher we have lots of things to do. One of our most important responsibilities’ is to help students to understand that they have enough power and capacity to learn a language if they are determined enough....
J. V.
Until now I followed 3 classes with Aysegül. I can defenitely recommend taking language classes with her! Aysegül is friendly and patient. She is also strict and provides me homework which helps me to motivate myself better. Thanks for helping me improving my Turkish Aysegül!! :)
Aysegül Ö.
Hello Everybody
My name is Luisa and I teach Italian for foreign students, English, French and German for Italian students
Since 1994, I have dedicated myself to translating and teaching thanks to my travels, abroad studies, foreign reading and writing. I provide fun and customized lessons based on the student's goals. I also triy to minimize English speaking during the lessons. I give homework exercises, and my lessons are intermixed with grammar, conversation, customs and traditions. My goal is to make certain that each student finds learning Italian exciting.
I am available for any explanations also via e mail
N. .
Luisa is such a great teacher; she’s energetic, patient, enthusiastic. I recommend her for anyone, child or adult.
Luisa A.
Thank you so much Nicole !!!! much appreciated !!
Native Spanish
T. V.
Marta is a very enthusiastic teacher that puts a lot of passion and interest in teaching to students, making lessons interactive, engaging and interesting for her students. She is also trained in teaching students of different ages, and nationalities, which means teaching to students who want to learn new languages and students who want to study for business purposes.
This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
Marta S.
If you are struggling with Afrikaans as a first additional language I can help.
I will teach you how to get the best marks for prepared and unprepared orals.
Prepared and unprepared reading does not need to frighten you. There are easy tips I can give you to help you improve your marks dramatically, as this is one of the easiest ways to boost your marks.
There is a method that you can learn to write essays and short transactional pieces.
which will help you increase your marks.
Poetry and literature will not frighten you once I have explained them to you. In fact, they will become an endless source of vocabulary that will help you with all aspects of Afrikaans.
I will discuss your needs and goals with you and ensure that you stay on track.
As a qualified high school teacher with many, many years of experience I know I can help you.
I have IEB and CAPS experience and will help you master the basics so that you can be more confident with Afrikaans and experience the joy of improved Afrikaans marks.
Book your free trial with me and together we will get your marks up!
C. B.
Louisa is a great Afrikaans teacher ! She teaches Afrikaans to kids, teenagers and adults with different methods : videos, musics, discussions and exercises for practicing afrikaans grammar and vocabulary ! Her lessons are very attractive and based on your demands, your interests and your needs. Moreover Louisa is a smiling and nice person, students will have confidence and be comfortable with her !
This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
Louisa S.
Thank you so much for your kind words Clémence B.
-Publisher
-Editor-in-chief
-Writer
Hello,
I was born in İstanbul and I lived there. I hold a bachelor degree in cinema and television at İstanbul Şehir University. During my university years, my stories have been published in major Turkish literary magazines. After my graduation I have been specializing in children's book illustration and literature. I founded children's book publishing house in Turkey. The name is Yıldız Tozu Publishing and my books were released. I worked as an editor-in-chief in the company. I was finding books in the world and I was publishing them in Turkish. I am practically and professionally working on Turkish language and literature. Later on, I moved France to continue my education and works about literature and art. Currently, I am learning french.
I have experience in teaching Turkish in years. Furthermore, I speak English very well (TOEFL B2) and French (B1) it is advantage for students who are beginners.
Here my methodology when I teach Turkish:
I will use the grammar books and my presentations, time to time.
For speaking practice: illustrations, daily conversations
For listening practice: Turkish songs, movies, series
For reading practice: news and articles about Turkey (for advance students), stories, picture books (for intermediate students), texts from language books (for beginner and intermediate students.)
If students need to focus specific area like writing etc. I am designing my class according to that.
In addition, it is because I am using broad material about Turkish media, you will be familiar the culture and sociology of Turkey.
I like to do lesson in creative and in an organized way; therefore, I believe you will learn fast and you will enjoy learning Turkish with me!
I hope to see you in my class :)
S. M.
I have just started my classes with Esra and she is a very good teacher. She guides you very well through the class with her presentation and provides you with a lot of vocabulary and visual input which is vital to start speaking and constructing sentences. Her presentations and her explanations guide you through a very dinamic class in which the student has to speak and apply the topics learned in a variety of examples. This variety and the structure helps you a lot to start with the language. Her homework assigments are also very carefully prepared and help you with the repetitions to interiorate the concepts learned and to put them into practice. I am looking forward to the next lessons because through this approach we will be able to move at a steady and fast pace!
Esra O.
Thank you Sofia...
*** Please note that I am on holidays in august***
Bonjour ! Comment ça va ?
My name is Lou, and I would be happy to be your french teacher !
French classes are for all levels, beginner to advanced. I can help you prepare to french exams and I also offer conversation classes.
My classes are fun and dynamic ! We will use various documents to work on and always adapt the classes to your needs and interests.
Free 30 min trial lesson !
Before the trial class, I will provide you a short French test to evaluate your level.
Feel free to contact me to talk about your goals and to plan a trial lesson.
See you soon online ! :-)
COMING SOON : a Whatsapp group for my students to practice french tchating with weekly challenges and conversation subjects !
P. .
Lou works in a very structured way and sent me teaching material before the lesson. After a bit of small talk, we worked on the topic of the lesson, with the lesson divided into reading comprehension, discussion of the text, listening comprehension of a video and a written assignment on the topic. Lou picked an interesting topic that created plenty of opportunity for conversation. She corrected mistakes in a friendly manner and responded very well to my learning requests. That was fun!
Lou P.
Italian teacher. 32 years of experience in face-to-face classes with adults and adolescents. Bachelor's degree in linguistics. The classes are adapted to the needs of the student. We do the program together when we walk, we have fun and you learn well. I am very didactic and clear when explaining. I have experience in different branches of pedagogy and glutodidactics.
A. S.
Marta is an Argentinean teacher who has had experience teaching Italian to adult audiences. She has a great variety of high-quality learning materials and various teaching methods.
This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
Marta T.
Hello everyone, my name is Verónica Palacios, I am a Spanish teacher with a master's degree in modern languages and speech studies; I have worked as a language teacher in face-to-face and online classes for 13 years. Teaching languages is an activity that I love, I enjoy teaching my mother tongue, I help my students with questions in grammar, reading, writing, speaking, listening to Spanish, in my tutorials I put a lot of emphasis on culture and different learning contexts . Spanish is a very important language at present; If you have knowledge in Spanish, you will have the opportunity to do business, study or visit abroad, in addition to knowing the culture of Spanish-speaking countries. I would like to be your Spanish tutor and work together as a team. I hope you have a beautiful day. See you.
C. S.
Veronica is an excellent teacher and I love our classes together. She brings instructive and entertaining topics for every class. She is punctual, easy to communicate with and very flexible in terms of schedule. I enjoy our weekly lessons and strongly recommend her if you are thinking about learning Spanish, regardless of your level.
Verónica P.
Hi!
My name is Krisztina! I’m a teacher of German and French with the corresponding qualifications. I've grown up in a bilingual family (Hungarian-German), so I speak both languages as a native language. I’ve been teaching for six years, so I’m able to estimate your needs, and to meet them. In my lessons, I recreat real life situations, so that you will be able to adapt yourselves to different circumstances. I’m a patient, positive and creative person, who is looking forward to see you in her lessons. So don’t hesitate to book a lesson with me.
R. .
Krisztina is extremely patient and is an excellent teacher. She gives great learning materials and the lessons are productive. Krisztina keeps the lessons focused and makes sure that you get the most out of the hour. I definitely recommend her.
Krisztina L.
Hello everyone!
My name is Lucia and I have been teaching English for 13 years now.
I am a CELTA and CELTYL qualified senior language trainer, a mentor and a qualified teacher trainer as well.
I absolutely love teaching English in a fun, engaging manner that is appealing to all my students. I like discussing all lessons with students so that each course can meet their needs at every moment.
Lessons should be relaxing, motivating and enjoyable and I always like to hear my students say at the end of the lesson:
"Hey! Teacher! When did this lesson finish? It feels like we've just started!"
So, if you would like to learn English, prepare for your Cambridge exam, or just improve your communications skills I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING YOU ALL.
See you all during the lessons!
C. B.
Lucia is an English teacher since 13 years. Lucia prepares students and nurses to English certifications as Cambridge certificate. Indeed she adaptes her lessons according what you like and what you want to learn. Lucia creates and personalizes each of her English courses with different learning materials as books or powerpoint presentation, even pictures are made by herself ! She is very involved in her students progress and also very communicative with them providing a great atmosphere during her courses. I recommend her !
This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
Lucia D.
Oi! Hi! Ciao! My name is José. I lived in Brazil most of my life, in the city of Sao Paulo. After a period in London, now I'm living in Turin, Italy. I'm eager to help you learn Portuguese, whether it is for travelling, to speak the language of your loved one, for working or just for fun, no matter what is your level.
From day one, my lessons will be tailored to your goals and interests, to make them engaging and fun and to help you achieve fluency fastly.
I always include bits of culture in our interactions and draw parallels between your knowledge and the culture around the language you are learning, to make the experience richer and to make you feel closer to the native speakers. That is essential!
I also have professional experience in several areas, from hospitality to business consulting, which gave me a lot of flexibility with the language and I will use it to help you improve your vocabulary.
Apart from being a language enthusiast, I am really into music, cooking, and travel. I play the guitar (mainly blues, rock, and bossa nova), I love to cook Brazilian-style barbecue and unknown Italian dishes, and the last places I've been to were Southeast Asian countries on a 5 months trip.
Let's schedule a trial lesson!
Até mais! See you soon! A presto!
G. G.
I totally recommend José. Stop searching. You just found your teacher. José is fun and gave me an amazing trial lesson. He interviewed me to understand how he could help me better accordingly with my everyday life, personal tastes and activities. After that, we had a very complete and pleasant lesson around 30 minutes. Total time: 1 hour (much more than I could demand in a free trial lesson). Obrigado José! Ci vediamo dopo il mio trasferimento alla fine novembre. Até mais!
Jose Rubens D.
Obrigado, Giuseppe! Thank you so much. I'll wait for you when you can. Good luck with your move. That everything is fine. Nos vemos em short. Zé Rubens
Do you want to learn Italian to know better the Italian culture and enjoy a trip in Italy? Do you need it for your business or to speak with your relatives?
Whatever is your reason in learning Italian I can help you and personalize your lesson according to your needs and interest.
My work as Italian tutor started with my love for languages and for travels. I experienced that learning a new language is a way to know a new culture and to enrich your knowledge of the world.
I started teaching Italian online few years ago. I have a TEFL certificate, and currently teach students from different parts of the world.
Before teaching Italian, I worked for a few years after graduation in tourism.
I believe that the teacher work requires continual renewal and study of new teaching methods is part of my job.
Feel free to contact me so we can tailor your personal lessons.
G. Y.
A big 'thank you'to Davide for the last 12 lessons. We have done some very useful work together and he is supportive and encouraging.
Davide M.
Hi there,
I am a Mexican Literature professional with a B. A. on Literature and Spanish Language.
With me, you can learn advanced Spanish with a Literature and Grammar-based strategy taking always into consideration all of the Spanish different dialects.
With a reading-writing and listening-speaking creative methodology, you will not only learn about Spanish as a language but also as a form of cultural expression.
A. E.
Top-notch teacher! Highly recommended! Very professional, easy-going and patient, especially for beginners like me! :D There are a lot of interesting content within his teaching material interweaving with the grammar, which makes the lesson very entertaining and helps acquire the knowledge about language easier. In one hour with Diego you can get an excellent learning experience but also a decent package of information about the Spanish culture!
Diego M.
Native teacher, graduated in Spanish, with a master's degree in teaching and more than five years of experience, offers Spanish classes
H. K.
Tania already has a lot of experience in teaching Spanish and English, both online and offline. Having worked with students of all ages and all levels, she knows how to adapt perfectly to different students and adjust the lessons accordingly. She puts a lot of emphasis on communication and wants to come up with comprehensive and communicative lessons, covering the topics that her students are really interested in. So don't wait any longer and start your Spanish or English lessons with Tania now!
This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
Tania G.