Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Introduction
Eric: Welcome to 3-Minute Vietnamese Season 1, Lesson 13 - Who Is It? In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask who someone is in Vietnamese.
Body
Eric: Here's the way to ask "Who is it?" in Vietnamese.
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Ai đấy?
Eric: First is a noun meaning "who"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] ai [Slow] ai
Eric: Last is the sentence-ending particle. You can use the particle when asking about something you are not sure about.
Hoang Anh: [Normal] đấy [Slow] đấy
Eric: Note the rising intonation. Listen again to the question meaning "Who is it?"
Hoang Anh: [Slow] Ai đấy? [Normal] Ai đấy?
Eric: Now, imagine you're speaking to a stranger. Here's the way to ask, "Who is that?"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Đó là ai?
Eric: First is a noun meaning "that"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Đó [Slow] Đó
Eric: Next is the verb meaning "to be"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] là [Slow] là
Eric: Last is the question word meaning "who"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] ai [Slow] ai
Eric: Note again the rising intonation. Listen again to the question meaning "Who is that?"
Hoang Anh: [Slow] Đó là ai? [Normal] Đó là ai?
Eric: Here's a response meaning "It’s me."
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Tôi đây.
Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "I"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Tôi [Slow] Tôi
Eric: Last is the adverb meaning "here"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] đây [Slow] đây
Eric: Listen again to the response meaning "It’s me."
Hoang Anh: [Slow] Tôi đây. [Normal] Tôi đây.
Eric: Here's a response meaning, "That is a friend of mine."
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Đó là một người bạn của tôi.
Eric: First is a noun meaning "that"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] Đó [Slow] Đó
Eric: Next is the verb meaning "to be"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] là [Slow] là
Eric: Next is the noun meaning "a friend"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] một người bạn [Slow] một người bạn
Eric: Next is the preposition meaning "of"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] của [Slow] của
Eric: Last is the pronoun meaning "I” or “me"
Hoang Anh: [Normal] tôi [Slow] tôi
Eric: Listen again to the response, "That is a friend of mine."
Hoang Anh: [Slow] Đó là một người bạn của tôi. [Normal] Đó là một người bạn của tôi.
Cultural Insight
Eric: Now it's time for a quick cultural insight.
Hoang Anh: Ai đấy? with the high rising tone, and Ai đây? with the level tone, seem quite similar. And although both mean “who is it?”, they aren’t interchangeable. Ai đấy? is used when you’re not sure who’s there, like on the phone or at the door. Ai đây? is asked when you don’t know someone. There’s also the expression Ôi, ai thế này? meaning “Oh, who’s this?” to show surprise when you unexpectedly meet a friend.

Outro

Eric: And that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to check out the lesson notes, and we’ll see you in the next lesson!
Hoang Anh: Tạm biệt.

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