Learn how to talk about time
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone. I’m Becky. Welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com This is the Absolute Beginner series, Season 1, Lesson 9 - What Time Is It In Vietnam? |
| Huyen: Xin chào! I’m Huyen. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about time in Vietnamese. The conversation takes place at the station and is between Hà and Trang. |
| Huyen: They are friends, so they will be using informal Vietnamese. |
| Becky: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Hà: Mấy giờ tàu chạy? |
| Trang: Ba giờ mười lăm. |
| Hà: Bây giờ là mấy giờ? |
| Trang: Ba giờ rồi. |
| Hà: Chuyến tàu cuối cùng vào lúc mấy giờ ? |
| Trang: Bốn giờ kém năm |
| Hà: Vậy à? Nhanh lên thôi! |
| Trang: Ừ đi thôi. |
| Hà: What time does the train leave? |
| Trang: 3.15. |
| Hà: What time is it now? |
| Trang: It's three already. |
| Hà: When is the last train? |
| Trang: Five to four. |
| Hà: Oh really? Hurry up! |
| Trang: Okay, let's go. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Huyen, do you usually travel by train or subway in Vietnam? |
| Huyen: Actually in Vietnam, the train is not a daily means of public transportation. People don’t use it to travel within the city. |
| Becky: Does that mean trains are used only for long distance? |
| Huyen: Yes. Vietnamese people use the train to travel from one city or province to another. |
| Becky: I’ve heard it is by far the best way to travel around Vietnam, because it’s comfortable, cheap, and it gives you a great opportunity to view the sights on the way. |
| Huyen: Yes, that’s true. And there are many different kinds of trains. |
| Becky: There are the main classes like hard seats, soft seats, hard beds, and soft beds. Beds are more expensive, aren’t they? |
| Huyen: Right, and seats are better for short distances. |
| Becky: If I travel on an overnight train, I’d definitely want to try a soft bed because they’re so comfortable and not very expensive. Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Huyen: ...Chạy. |
| Becky: “To run.” In this lesson, this verb is used to describe the movement of trains but it’s also for the movement of any vehicles in general. |
| Huyen: For example, you can say Xe buýt chạy trên đường. |
| Becky: “The bus is running on the road.” |
| Huyen: Then we have rồi. |
| Becky: “Already.” This is an adverb that can be added after a verb to express an action that has already been completed. It’s usually used with verbs in the past tense. |
| Huyen: For example, Tôi ăn trưa rồi. |
| Becky: “I had lunch already.” |
| Huyen: Tôi làm xong việc rồi. |
| Becky: “I’ve already finished my work.” Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask about time in Vietnamese. |
| Huyen: Bây giờ là mấy giờ? |
| Becky: “What time is it now?” The question starts with the time phrase... |
| Huyen: ...bây giờ… |
| Becky: ...which means “now”. The next word… |
| Huyen: ...là… |
| Becky: ...is the verb “to be”. Last comes… |
| Huyen: ...mấy giờ… |
| Becky: ...which means “what time”. The whole question can be literally translated as “Now is what time?” |
| Huyen: Bây giờ là mấy giờ. |
| Becky: To answer this question, say the number of the hour... |
| Huyen: … and giờ , meaning “hour”... |
| Becky: ...and the number of minutes… |
| Huyen: ...and phút, meaning “minute”. |
| Becky: Can you give our listeners some examples? |
| Huyen: Ba giờ ba mươi phút. |
| Becky: “3: 30.” |
| Huyen: Bốn giờ mười lăm phút. |
| Becky: “4: 15.” You can also remove the word... |
| Huyen: ...phút... |
| Becky: ...at the end, and just say the number of the minutes like this - |
| Huyen: Bốn giờ mười lăm. |
| Becky: “4: 15.” |
| Huyen: In the dialogue, Hà asked, Bây giờ là mấy giờ? |
| Becky: “What time is it now?” |
| Huyen: And Trang said, Ba giờ rồi. |
| Becky: “It’s already three.” |
| Huyen: In daily conversation, to ask about the time, you can simply say, Mấy giờ rồi? |
| Becky: Which literally means “What time already?” |
| Huyen: For example, Mấy giờ rồi? - Chín giờ mười. |
| Becky: “What time is it?” - “9: 10.” You can use the phrase... |
| Huyen: ...mấy giờ… |
| Becky: ...to ask what time something happens. In the dialogue, at the beginning, you hear... |
| Huyen: ...Mấy giờ tàu chạy? |
| Becky: “What time does the train leave?” |
| Huyen: The answer is Ba giờ mười lăm. |
| Becky: “3: 15.” If you want to say "a quarter to ten", you can say… |
| Huyen: ...Mười giờ kém mười lăm. The pattern is: hour and then kém and then minutes. |
| Becky: Well listeners, now you can talk about time more easily in Vietnamese. To review what we’ve learned, don’t forget to read the lesson notes. |
Outro |
|---|
| Becky: That’s it for this lesson. THanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
| Huyen: Tạm biệt! |
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