Skip to main content

Lesson 25: Days of the week in Vietnamese

Summary: Learn Vietnamese names of the weekdays and how to ask "What day is today?" in Vietnamese. This knowledge is very helpful for daily conversations about time, appointments, and more.

Next in our journey to learn Vietnamese, we'll cover the days of the week. Honestly, the names of the weekdays in Vietnamese are easier to remember than in English. Without further ado, let’s start with the vocabulary.

Learn Vietnamese Lesson 25 - Days Of The Week In Vietnamese

1. Vocabulary about days of the week

Day in Vietnamese - Learn Vietnamese 30 Days
Ngày hôm qua/ Hôm qua Ngày hôm nay/ Hôm nay Ngày mai
Vietnamese English
Thứ Days of the week
Chủ Nhật Sunday
Thứ Hai Monday
Thứ Ba Tuesday
Thứ Tư Wednesday
Thứ Năm Thursday
Thứ Sáu Friday
Thứ Bảy Saturday

Further explanation: After Portuguese missionaries came to Vietnam, they introduced the concept of a 7-day week. Vietnamese named the days of the week with numbers similar to Portuguese:

  • The week starts with “Chủ Nhật” (Sunday), followed by “Thứ Hai” (Monday) as the second day, and ends with “Thứ Bảy” (Saturday) as the seventh day.
  • “Tư” in “Thứ Tư” means 4. It's an old way of counting 4 in numbers like 24, 34, 44, etc., as mentioned in Lesson 19.
  • Nowadays, Vietnamese use Monday as the first day of the week.

Quiz 01: What day is it in Vietnamese?

(Note: Correct answer button will turn green.)

2. What day is today in Vietnamese

Question:

Vietnam-ese: [Hôm nay/ Hôm qua/ Ngày mai] + là + thứ + mấy?
1 2 3 4
English: What + day + is + [today/ yesterday/ tomorrow]?
4 3 2 1

Answer:

Vietnam-ese: [Hôm nay/ Hôm qua/ Ngày mai] + là + [a day of the week].
1 2 3
English: [Today/ Yesterday/ Tomorrow] + is + [a day of the week].
1 2 3

Further explanation: Similar to questions about floor/room, days of the week are numbers to Vietnamese. Therefore, instead of asking “what day”, Vietnamese asks “How many”.

Quiz 02: How do you ask if today is Thursday?

(Note: Correct answer button will turn green.)

Quiz 03: Choose the correct response for the question above.

Examples:

Vietnam-ese English
Hôm nay là thứ mấy?
Hôm nay là thứ Ba.		 What day is today?
Today is Tuesday.
Ngày mai là thứ mấy?
Ngày mai là thứ Bảy.		 What day is tomorrow?
Tomorrow is Saturday.
Hôm qua có phải là thứ Hai không?
⇒ Phải, hôm qua là thứ Hai.
⇒ Không, hôm qua không phải là thứ Hai.		 Was yesterday Monday?
⇒ Yes, it was.
⇒ No, it wasn’t.
Hôm qua là thứ Hai phải không?
⇒ Phải, hôm qua là thứ Hai.
⇒ Không, hôm qua không phải là thứ Hai.		 Yesterday was Monday, right?
⇒ Yes, it was.
⇒ No, it wasn’t.

3. Dialog

Vy and Thu conversation in Vietnamese - Learn Vietnamese 30 Days
Vietnamese English
Vy Chào cô. Cô có khỏe không? Hi. How are you?
Thu Cô khỏe. Cảm ơn em. Còn em? I’m good. Thank you. And you?
Vy Em khỏe. Cảm ơn cô. Cô ơi, hôm nay có phải là thứ Hai? I’m good too. Thank you. Excuse me, is today Monday?
Thu Không. Hôm nay không phải là thứ Hai. No, it isn’t.
Vy Hôm nay là thứ mấy? What day is today?
Thu Hôm nay là thứ Ba. Today is Tuesday.
Vy Cảm ơn cô. Thank you.
Thu Không có chi. You’re welcome.

In the next lesson, we will review and combine vocabulary about time to talk about times of the day:

Tạm biệt và hẹn gặp vào ngày mai! (Goodbye and see you tomorrow!)

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lesson 02: Vietnamese alphabet, tone marks and spelling rules

Summary: This lesson is an overview of Vietnamese alphabet, tone marks, and a Vietnamese word structure. It may seem like a lot, but you don't need to remember everything in this lesson, because I will introduce all letters one-by-one in the next lessons. Vietnamese alphabet and pronunciation of each letter.  Six tone marks are used. A simplified structure of a word in Vietnamese that you can use to learn spelling rules in Vietnamese later. Hello, happy to see you here again! If this is the first time you're here, you can go back to the Learn Vietnamese instruction to know where you're at. If not, let's get started! 1. Vietnamese Alphabet The Vietnamese alphabet contains 29 letters, including seven letters using four diacritics (ă, â, đ, ê, ô, ơ, and ư) and five tone marks combined with only vowels (for example: ò, ó, ỏ, õ, ọ). VIETNAMESE ALPHABET A / a Ă / ă Â / â B / b C / c D
Post a Comment
Read more

Lesson 08: Family members in Vietnamese

Summary : Exploring family relationships at the outset of learning Vietnamese serves as a strategic move, particularly in mastering the intricate topic of pronouns. You might wonder why delve into the Family Tree right at the start of Vietnamese lessons? Well, it's a deliberate choice aimed at facilitating your learning journey. Unlike some resources that merely translate English materials into Vietnamese, our approach acknowledges the distinct grammar challenges between these two languages. Pronouns—such as I, you, we, he, she, it, they—are typically the first linguistic elements one encounters in a new language, crucial for communication. However, Vietnamese pronouns present a unique complexity. To navigate this challenge effectively, grasping the nuances of the Vietnamese family structure proves essential. 1. Family tree 2. Vocabulary about family members in Vietnamese Vietnamese English Ông Grandpa
Post a Comment
Read more

Learn Vietnamese Exercise - Level 01 Lesson 30

Review and practice new words in Lesson 16: Numbers in Vietnamese - Part 1 From 0 to 9 . If this is the first time you're here, I highly recommend you to learn the lesson first! 1. Vocabulary review about numbers in Vietnamese Số Không Một Hai Ba Bốn Năm Sáu Bảy Tám Chín 2. Flashcard game about numbers in Vietnamese Note: Click/Touch and hold to flip cards Card mode: Ordered Random Số Không Một Hai Ba Bốn
Post a Comment
Read more