Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Hi, everyone! This is Linh from VietnamesePod101 and today, we will be talking about 10 gift ideas you must know in Vietnamese. Let’s begin!
1. máy tính xách tay “laptop”
Okay, so here, máy tính is a “computer” and xách tay is “carry on”, so máy tính xách tay is a “laptop” or the computer that you can carry on, or here, máy tính also means “the calculator”.
So in a sentence, you can say - Khi tôi đỗ đại học, bố mẹ đã tặng tôi một chiếc máy tính xách tay. “When I passed the exam for University, my parent gave me a laptop as a present.”
2. nước hoa “perfume”
So here, nước is “water” and hoa is “flower”, so water from flowers. Yeah, but when you say nước hoa, everybody would understand that it’s perfume. So, yeah, it’s a nice gift to send or to give for someone, especially women, because everybody likes perfume. I’ve been using perfume a lot.
So in a sentence - Chị ấy rất thích nước hoa. “She likes perfume a lot.”
So, chị ấy is “she”, rất is “a lot” and thích is “like”, so, “She likes perfume a lot.” Chị ấy rất thích nước hoa.
3. sách “book”
Okay, so here, the word, sách, has the intonation or the tone mark dấu sắc, dấu sắc. So sách and dấu sắc have the same intonation. You have to go up and you have to pronounce very strong. That’s why when you hear Vietnamese speak in English, you will see that we have a very strong Vietnamese accent, because we have the tone mark. So, when you pronounce this word or this tone mark, you have to go very strong and very hard, very up. And also, because in Vietnamese, we don’t have the ending sound like in English, so, when you pronounce sách, you will see the sound /ch/ in the end of the word right, but you don’t pronounce sách, but you just pronounce, sách. Is that okay?
So in a sentence - Em trai tôi rất thích đọc sách. “My younger brother likes reading books a lot.”
So, sách is “book”.
4. bản đồ thế giới “world map”
So here, we have four words, bản... đồ... thế… giới… Bản has a tone mark dấu hỏi, đồ has dấu huyền, and thế giới is dấu sắc. So, I know this is a little bit hard because you have four, no, three words, three tone marks in a row, so, you have to pronounce clearly and separately - bản... đồ... thế giới…, bản đồ thế giới.
Okay, so in a sentence -
Tấm bản đồ thế giới này là một món quà từ chị gái tôi. “This world map is a present from my older sister.”
5. máy ảnh “camera”
So here, máy has a dấu sắc and ảnh has dấu hỏi. so máy... ảnh…, máy ảnh, okay? So, máy is “a device / a machine”, and ảnh is “a photo / a picture”, so, máy ảnh is just like a device that can take a picture or can take a photo. So, actually in Vietnamese, we use also the camera just like ca-mê-ra. We pronounce it like ca-mê-ra, just like Vietnamese. So, camera actually is to talk about a scene in paper, but when you say, máy ảnh, that means a camera, taking picture. So, yeah, actually, I like camera too, but nowadays, because the smartphone already provided a good camera, so, I just don’t use camera anymore, but I think that camera still has specific functions, so, yeah, I love it, if someone gave me as a gift.
So in a sentence - Tôi muốn có một chiếc máy ảnh mới. “I want to have a new camera.”
6. điện thoại thông minh “smartphone”
Okay, so here, điện thoại is “phone” and thông minh is “smart / intelligent”, so, điện thoại thông minh, “smartphone”. Okay, what a gift. It’s supposed to be very expensive, especially the latest version, so yeah, I love it if someone gave me the latest smartphone.
So in a sentence, you can say - Anh ấy vừa mới mua một chiếc điện thoại thông minh. “He has just bought a new smartphone.”
So here, you will see that vừa mới is “just”. That means, something just happened in the past or a while ago, so, vừa mới is like “just”. Anh ấy vừa mới mua một chiếc điện thoại thông minh. So here, actually, we used the word “my” in the past simple, right, một. But actually in Vietnamese, we don’t have to conjugate the verb so when you put vừa mới, that means, it happened already, so, you can just use the base form of the verb - Anh ấy vừa mới mua một chiếc điện thoại thông minh.
7. tay cầm chơi game “game console”
Okay, so here, if you have a friend who is a gamer, it’s a nice thing to give as a present because, especially in Vietnam, we have a lot of shopping online websites, where you can easily find a game console which is very affordable. So, when you search for it, you can just type, tay cầm chơi game, and you will find plenty of game consoles. So, in Vietnamese, tay cầm chơi game, is a “game console”, okay?
Bạn gái tôi đã tặng tôi một tay cầm chơi game . “My girlfriend gave me a game console.”
8. một chuyến bay đến Việt Nam “a flight to Vietnam”
That’s amazing, especially when you don’t have any plan to travel at the moment and someone gave you a flight or a ticket to Vietnam. Let’s do it!
So, let’s say, if you have a husband and he gave you a flight to Vietnam for your birthday and you want to share this one to a Vietnamese friend, you can say - Chồng tôi đã tặng tôi một chuyến bay đến Việt Nam trong dịp sinh nhật này. “My husband gifted me a flight to Vietnam for my birthday this year.”
9. thú nuôi “pet”
Okay, so here, thú nuôi is “pet”. It could be a cat, it could be a dog, it could be a rabbit or it could be a hamster. So, in general, if you want to talk about an animal or a pet in Vietnamese, you have to put the word, con, before or in front of the noun or the name of the animal. For example - con chó “a dog”, con mèo “a cat”, con thỏ “a rabbit”, or con chuột “a hamster”, okay? So, con, before the name of the animal or before a pet.
So, in a sentence, you can say - Bố tôi đã mua tặng tôi 1 con thú nuôi. “My dad bought me a pet.”
10. trang sức “jewelry”
Okay, so here, trang sức is “jewelry” in general, but also, you can use đồ trang sức. So, it’s getting more expensive, I guess.
So in a sentence, you can use - Trang sức là món quà mà hầu như phụ nữ nào cũng thích. “Jewelry is the gift that most women love.”
So, “jewelry” is trang sức.
Okay, we’re done, 10 gift ideas you must know in Vietnamese and I hope you enjoyed it. Some people say that I speak too fast, that you cannot repeat after me, so I’m trying to speak slower and I hope it helps. Thank you for that and just give me more comments, so I can improve my videos better. I’m Lihn and thank you so much for watching the video again. See you next time!

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