Lesson 11: How to address people in Vietnamese?

Summary: Pronouns in Vietnamese are also used to address people, making it easier if you have a good grasp of them. Additionally, we’ll cover how to attract someone's attention politely. Let's begin with common titles used to address people in everyday conversations with locals.

1. How to say Mr./Ms./Mrs. in Vietnamese?

In Vietnamese, similar to pronouns, you use:

[Pronoun] + [A person’s name]
Structure	For	Example
[Anh/Chị] + [a person’s name]	someone as old as your older brothers/sisters	Anh Nam, Chị Min, etc.
[Cô/Chú] + [a person’s name]	someone as old as your parents	Cô Vân, Chú Andy, etc.
[Ông/Bà] + [a person’s name]	someone as old as your grandparents	Bà Kim, Ông Sam, etc.

Note:

• No pronoun is required for someone as young/old as you.
• English only use Mr./Ms./Mrs. in formal conversation, but Vietnamese people use that in daily conversation to show politeness and respect to people around them.

2. How to attract someone’s attention in Vietnamese?

As I mentioned earlier, you can call out someone's name to attract their attention, similar to how it's done in English. However:

• This is appropriate only for someone of the same age as you or for close friends.
• It is considered impolite to do this to someone older than you.

A more polite way to do this is:

[Pronounce/A person’s name] + ơi
Structure	For	Example
[A person’s name] + ơi	someone as young/old as you	Linh ơi, Andy ơi, Min ơi, etc.
Bạn ơi	someone as young/old as you, but you don’t know his/her name	Bạn ơi.
[Anh/Chị] + [a person’s name] + ơi	someone as old as your older brothers/sisters	Anh Nam ơi, Chị Min ơi, etc.
[Anh/Chị] + ơi	someone as old as your older brothers/sisters, but you don’t know his/her name	Anh ơi, chị ơi.
[Cô/Chú] + [a person’s name] + ơi	someone as old as your parents	Cô Vân ơi, Chú Andy ơi, etc.
[Cô/Chú] + ơi	someone as old as your parents, but you don’t know his/her name	Cô ơi, chú ơi.
[Ông/Bà] + [a person’s name] + ơi	someone as old as your grandparents	Bà Kim ơi, Ông Sam ơi, etc.
[Ông/Bà] + ơi	someone as old as your grandparents, but you don’t know his/her name	Ông ơi, bà ơi.

3. Exercise

Quiz 01: How does Andy attract Min’s attention in Vietnamese? (Multiple correct answers)

(Note: Correct answer buttons will turn green.)

Quiz 02: How does Andy attract Mrs. Vân’s attention in Vietnamese? (Multiple correct answers)

(Note: Correct answer buttons will turn green.)

Quiz 03: How does Phong attract Ms. Suki’s attention in Vietnamese? (Multiple correct answers)

(Note: Correct answer buttons will turn green.)

We have spent a third of the "Learn Vietnamese 30 Days" journey building a strong and stable foundation for your learning process. In the next lesson, we will cover some basic greetings to help you start your very first conversation with your local friends:

Goodbye and see you next time!