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Lesson 26: Times of the day in Vietnamese

Summary: Learn Vietnamese phrases for times of the day, such as “tomorrow morning” and “yesterday afternoon.” Let’s explore how to talk about different times of the day in Vietnamese today.

Today, we won't be learning new words, but we'll focus on combining what we’ve learned to talk about times of the day in Vietnamese. Let's first review what we know about time.

Learn Vietnamese Lesson 26 - Times Of A Day In Vietnamese

1. Vocabulary about time in Vietnamese (review)

Morning in Vietnamese

Sáng (or Buổi sáng)

Afternoon in Vietnamese

Trưa (or Buổi trưa)

Evening/Night in Vietnamese

Tối (or Buổi tối)

Yesterday in Vietnamese

Ngày hôm qua/ Hôm qua

Today in Vietnamese

Ngày hôm nay/ Hôm nay

Tomorrow in Vietnamese

Ngày mai

2. Times of a day in Vietnamese

Structure:

[Sáng/ Trưa/ Tối] + [hôm qua/ hôm nay/ ngày mai]

Examples:

Vietnamese English
Sáng hôm qua Yesterday morning
Trưa hôm nay This afternoon
(word-by-word translation: today afternoon)
Tối hôm nay Tonight
(word-by-word translation: today night)
Sáng ngày mai Tomorrow morning

Quiz 01: What is “Trưa ngày mai” in English?

(Note: Correct answer button will turn green.)

3. Present, Past and Future in Vietnamese

As mentioned in the first lesson, you don't always need to specify the tense when speaking Vietnamese. The time provided in your sentence usually makes it clear. For example, “Tôi học tiếng Anh hôm qua” (literally: I learn English yesterday) is correct because the context of "yesterday" clarifies the past tense.

However, sometimes you may need to emphasize the status of an action or if the time isn't provided. In these cases, you can add “đã” (past), “đang” (present continuous), or “sẽ” (future) to specify the action's status.

I did something in Vietnamese - Learn Vietnamese 30 Days I am doing something in Vietnamese - Learn Vietnamese 30 Days I will do something in Vietnamese - Learn Vietnamese 30 Days
Đã Đang Sẽ

In English, verbs have three forms: V1 (base form), V2 (simple past), and V3 (past participle). Vietnamese verbs, on the other hand, have only one base form. For simplicity, I’ll use V1, V2, and V3 to explain the grammar structure so you can easily compare them.

V1 (Base form) V2 (Simple past) V3 (Past participle)
Be Was/were Been
Love Loved Loved
Do Did Done

3.1. You did something in Vietnamese

Positive sentence:

Vietnamese: [Pronoun] + đã + [V1].
1 2 3
English: [I/ You/ He/ etc.] + [V2].
1 2 + 3

Negative sentence:

Vietnamese: [Pronoun] + đã + không + [V1].
1 2 3 4
English: [I/ You/ He/ etc.] + did + not + [V1].
1 2 3 4

3.2. You’re doing something in Vietnamese

Positive sentence:

Vietnamese: [Pronoun] + đang + [V1].
1 2 3
English: [I/ You/ He/ etc.] + [am/ are/ is] + [V1] + “ing”.
1 2 + 3

Negative sentence:

Vietnamese: [Pronoun] + đang + không + [V1].
1 2 3 4
English: [I/ You/ He/ etc.] + [am/ are/ is] + not + [V1] + “ing”.
1 3 2+4

3.3. You will do something in Vietnamese

Positive sentence:

Vietnamese: [Pronoun] + sẽ + [V1].
1 2 3
English: [I/ You/ He/ etc.] + [will/ shall] + [V1].
1 2 3

Negative sentence:

Vietnamese: [Pronoun] + sẽ + không + [V1].
1 2 3 4
English: [I/ You/ He/ etc.] + [will/ shall] + not + [V1].
1 2 3 4

3.4. Examples

Vietnamese English
Tôi đã là giáo viên. I was a teacher.
Tôi đang là giáo viên. I’m a teacher.
Tôi sẽ là giáo viên. I’ll be a teacher.
Chị ấy đã không học tiếng Anh. She didn’t study English.
Chị ấy đang không học tiếng Anh. She isn’t studying English.
Chị ấy sẽ không học tiếng Anh. She won’t study English.

Quiz 02: What is the question “Lớp tiếng Nhật của Phong sẽ là lúc 08 giờ tối Thứ Ba, Năm và Bảy phải không?” in English?

(Note: Correct answer button will turn green.)

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

4. Dialog

Ms. Suki and Phong conversation in Vietnamese - Learn Vietnamese 30 Days
Vietnamese English
Suki Chào Phong. Em có khoẻ không? Hi, Phong. How are you?
Phong Chào cô Suki. Em khoẻ, cảm ơn cô. Cô có khoẻ không? Hi, Miss Suki. I’m good, thank you. How are you?
Suki Cô khoẻ. Cảm ơn em. Hôm qua cô đã gọi cho em và em đã không ở nhà. Cô đã muốn biết số điện thoại của Vy. I’m good, thank you. Yesterday, I called you and you weren’t at home. I wanted to know Vy’s phone number.
Phong Sáng hôm qua em đã học tiếng Anh ở lớp của cô Min. Yesterday morning, I studied English in Miss Min’s class.
Suki Xin lỗi, cô đã không biết em học tiếng Anh sáng hôm qua. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you studied English yesterday morning.
Phong Bây giờ cô có đang cần số điện thoại của Vy không? Do you need Vy’s phone number now?
Suki Không, cô không cần số điện thoại của Vy. Cô Min đã cho cô số điện thoại của Vy. Ngày mai cô sẽ gọi cho Vy. Cảm ơn em. No, I don’t. Miss Min gave me Vy’s phone number. I will call Vy tomorrow. Thank you!
Ms. Suki and Hoa conversation in Vietnamese - Learn Vietnamese 30 Days
Vietnamese English
Suki Xin chào. Em là Phong phải không? Hello, are you Phong?
Hoa Không, tôi không phải là Phong. Tôi là Hoa, chị của Phong. Bạn là ai? No, I’m not. I’m Hoa, Phong’s older sister. Who are you?
Suki Tôi là Suki, giáo viên tiếng Nhật của Phong. I’m Suki, Phong’s Japanese teacher.
Hoa Chào cô Suki. Phong đang không ở nhà. Em ấy đang học tiếng Anh ở lớp cô Min. Hello, Miss Suki. Phong isn’t at home. He is studying English in Miss Min’s class.
Suki Cảm ơn. Tôi sẽ gọi Phong ngày mai. Tạm biệt! Thank you. I’ll call him tomorrow. Goodbye!
Hoa Tạm biệt cô! Goodbye!

That’s enough for today. Practice these phrases by yourself or with your local friends to reinforce your memory. Tomorrow, we will move to the final lesson related to numbers and time in Vietnamese:

See you tomorrow! Tạm biệt!

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