Learn how to refuse an invitation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hey there! I’m Brandon and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is lower beginner Season 1, Lesson 10 - Declining an Invitation in Vietnamese. |
| Huyen: Xin chào! I’m Huyen. |
| Brandon: In this lesson you will learn how to refuse an invitation. The conversation takes place at the office and is between Mai and Linh. |
| Huyen: The speakers are colleagues but are quite close, so they will be using informal Vietnamese. |
| Brandon: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Mai: Chủ nhật em làm tiệc tân gia, chị qua dự nhé |
| Linh: Nhà xây xong rồi à? Chúc mừng em. |
| Mai: Vâng, em cảm ơn. |
| Linh: Xin lỗi, chị không đến được. Chị bận mất rồi. |
| Mai: Thế ạ? Tiếc quá. |
| Linh: Để lần khác chị qua chơi vậy. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Mai: Chủ nhật em làm tiệc tân gia, chị qua dự nhé |
| Linh: Nhà xây xong rồi à? Chúc mừng em. |
| Mai: Vâng, em cảm ơn. |
| Linh: Xin lỗi, chị không đến được. Chị bận mất rồi. |
| Mai: Thế ạ? Tiếc quá. |
| Linh: Để lần khác chị qua chơi vậy. |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Mai: Chủ nhật em làm tiệc tân gia, chị qua dự nhé |
| Brandon: I'm going to organize a new house party this Sunday. Sister, will you come over to join? |
| Linh: Nhà xây xong rồi à? Chúc mừng em. |
| Brandon: Your house is finished already? Congratulations! |
| Mai: Vâng, em cảm ơn. |
| Brandon: Yeah, thank you. |
| Linh: Xin lỗi, chị không đến được. Chị bận mất rồi. |
| Brandon: Sorry I can't come. I'll be busy unfortunately. |
| Mai: Thế ạ? Tiếc quá. |
| Brandon: Really? What a pity. |
| Linh: Để lần khác chị qua chơi vậy. |
| Brandon: I'll come visit you another time. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Hey Huyen, what’s a new house party? |
| Huyen: It’s called “tiệc tân gia” in Vietnamese. It’s a party organized by a person, or a family, when they have just bought or built a new house. |
| Brandon: Oh! Like a house warming party. Is it a must to have one? |
| Huyen: It’s not, but almost everyone will do it when they have a new house. The host will invite relatives and close friends to their house to share the happiness. |
| Brandon: What are some presents that the guests can give to the host? |
| Huyen: Mainly household equipment, decorations or kitchenwares. Some give an envelope to the host. |
| Brandon: An envelope? What’s inside? Is it money? |
| Huyen: Exactly. It’s quite common to give money as a present, because it allows the host to buy what they like. |
| Brandon: Interesting. What do they eat at the party? |
| Huyen: The food can vary depending on their preferences. But they often drink alcohol and toast to congratulate the host. |
| Brandon: It sounds like fun! Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: The first word we shall see is: |
| Huyen: chủ nhật [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Sunday |
| Huyen: chủ nhật [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: chủ nhật [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: tiệc tân gia [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “new house” party |
| Huyen: tiệc tân gia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: tiệc tân gia [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: qua [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to come over |
| Huyen: qua [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: qua [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: dự [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to join, to attend |
| Huyen: dự [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: dự [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: nhà [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: house |
| Huyen: nhà [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: nhà [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: xây [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to build |
| Huyen: xây [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: xây [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: xong [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to finish, to be done |
| Huyen: xong [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: xong [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: chúc mừng [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to congratulate |
| Huyen: chúc mừng [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: chúc mừng [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| Huyen: lần khác [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: another time |
| Huyen: lần khác [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: lần khác [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is… |
| Huyen: qua |
| Brandon: It originally meant “to cross, or, to pass” but in this lesson it means “to come, or, come over”. |
| Huyen: In this sense, it is used the same way as the verb “đến” that we learned before. |
| Brandon: To say, “come here”, you can say: |
| Huyen: Qua đây. |
| Brandon: Another example is.. |
| Huyen: Mai tớ qua nhé. |
| Brandon: I’ll come tomorrow, meaning “come to the other speaker’s place”. |
| Huyen: The second word is: nhà |
| Brandon: This originally means “house” but it can be used to mean your partner, which is a husband or wife or your family. |
| Huyen: Nhà tôi ở trung tâm thành phố. |
| Brandon: My house is in the city center. |
| Huyen: Nhà tôi hôm nay đi vắng rồi. |
| Brandon: My partner isn’t home today. |
| Huyen: Nhà tôi vừa đi du lịch đến Singapore. |
| Brandon: My family has just travelled to Singapore. |
| Huyen: In this case, the subject “nhà tôi” can also be understood as your partner. To say that it is your whole family, not just your partner, you can say “cả nhà tôi”- my whole family: “Cả nhà tôi vừa đi du lịch đến Singapore.” |
| Brandon: Which is “My whole family has just travelled to Singapore”. Finally, we have… |
| Huyen: xong |
| Brandon: Which means “to finish.” You commonly use it after another verb to mean that you’ve finished doing something. |
| Huyen: Next is Cậu làm xong bài chưa? |
| Brandon: Did you finish doing your homework? |
| Huyen: Tôi đã nấu xong cơm tối. |
| Brandon: I’ve finished cooking dinner. |
| Huyen: Tôi vẫn chưa viết xong báo cáo. |
| Brandon: “I still haven’t finished writing my report.” Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to refuse an invitation. |
| Huyen: Xin lỗi, chị không đến được. Chị bận mất rồi. |
| Brandon: "Sorry, I can’t come. Unfortunately, I’ll be busy." |
| Huyen: A refusal often begins with “xin lỗi”- meaning “I’m sorry.” |
| Brandon: Then repeat that you can’t come, go, or attend something by mentioning the 1st person pronoun plus: |
| Huyen “không” |
| Brandon: Followed by |
| Huyen: “đi or đến or tham dự” |
| Brandon: Which respectively means “to go, to come or to attend”, then an object, and finally the particle |
| Huyen: “được”. |
| Brandon: This means “I can’t go, come or attend something”. Finally state your reason. A common reason is to say that you’re busy. In Vietnamese, “I’m busy” is: |
| Huyen: Tôi bận mất rồi. |
| Brandon: Unfortunately, I’m busy, or, I’ll be busy. |
| Huyen: The pronoun “tôi” can be replaced by another equivalent of “I” depending on who you are speaking with. The word “mất” in “bận mất rồi” is to emphasize “unfortunately I’m busy” meaning that you really want to go, but unfortunately you can’t. Otherwise, you can simply say “Tôi bận rồi” meaning “I’m busy.” |
| Brandon: Let’s hear some examples. |
| Huyen: Xin lỗi, tôi không tham dự tiệc sinh nhật anh được. Tôi bận mất rồi. |
| Brandon: "Sorry I can’t attend your birthday party. I’ll be busy unfortunately.” |
| Huyen: Xin lỗi, tôi không đi với anh được. Tôi bận rồi. |
| Brandon: “Sorry, I can’t go with you. I’m busy.” |
| Brandon: Another way to start a refusal is to say “What a pity” then state your reason. “What a pity” in Vietnamese is... |
| Huyen: “Tiếc quá”. “Tiếc quá” is also used to reply to a refusal. |
| Brandon: You can refuse an invitation to go out by saying: |
| Huyen: Tiếc quá, tớ không đi chơi với cậu được. Tớ bận rồi. |
| Brandon: “What a pity. I can’t go out with you. I’m busy." |
| Huyen: Another common reason to refuse an invitation is “I have an appointment”. In Vietnamese, this is “Tôi có hẹn rồi” or “Tôi có hẹn mất rồi”. |
| Brandon: You say, “What a pity. I already had an appointment.” |
| Huyen: Tiếc quá, tôi có hẹn mất rồi. |
| Brandon: To be polite, you can also suggest another time in the future by saying: |
| Huyen: Để lần khác nhé. |
| Brandon: Another time, okay? |
| Huyen: What will you say when someone invites you to go to the cinema and you don’t want to go? |
| Brandon: Try to practice saying that using what we’ve just learned, and leave us a comment at VietnamesePod101.com! |
Outro |
| Huyen: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to read the lesson notes for a better understanding and review of this lesson. |
| Brandon: Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Huyen: Tạm biệt. |
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