How to Describe the Personality in Vietnamese (adjectives)

Lesson Transcript

Want to speak real Vietnamese from your first lesson?

XIn chào các bạn. Mình là Linh. Rất vui được gặp lại các bạn hôm nay.

Hi everyone, my name is Linh and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com

the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Vietnamese.

Our topic today is going to be very interesting because it talks about you.

But before we start, I'd like you to write down in the comment below some adjectives,

talking about yourself or your personality.

So later we can check in Vietnamese, okay?

And today the topic is going to be

what adjective describes your personality best in Vietnamese.

Let's get started.

Before we start, the word “personality” in Vietnamese, we say

Tính cách

or there is another word which is

Cá tính

Similarly, if you want to talk about a person who has very strong personalities,

you can say

Người có cá tính mạnh

Người có cá tính mạnh means “the person who has very strong personality”.

For example, if you want to talk about yourself

like “I am a kind of person” or “I am a… person”

then you can say

Tôi là một người…

For example

Tôi là một người vui vẻ.

Tôi là một người kiên nhẫn.

Tôi là một người bla bla bla

That is talking about yourself.

Talking about yourself, how about we talk about a third person

then you can say

Cô ấy là một người…

For “she” and

Anh ấy là một người…

For “he”, okay?

So là is “to be” verb

Một is “one”

And người is “person”

Một người means “a person”

And in Vietnamese if you want to say

“She is a beautiful person.”

you will not say

Cô ấy là xinh đẹp một người.

But instead we say

Cô ấy là một người xinh đẹp.

So remember the word order in Vietnamese

the adjectives will go after the noun

instead of before the noun.

Now is a fun part

I'd like to talk about some positive adjectives first

because there are so many good people out there

and I want to talk about their personalities

If I forget something

don't forget to remind me at the comment below, okay?

But first let's talk about a very nice personality

that I really like which is to be positive

So in Vietnamese you can say

Tích cực

For example, “she is a very positive person”

Then you can say

Cô ấy là một người rất tích cực.

That means “She is a very positive person.”

How about the opposite of positive?

You can say

Tiêu cực

Tiêu cực means negative

Anh ấy là một người rất tiêu cực.

That means “He is a very negative person.” ok?

Tích cực and tiêu cực.

Thông minh

Thông minh means “intelligent” or “smart”or “clever”.

Thông minh and the opposite of thông minh is ngu ngốc

Ngu ngốc means “stupid”.

Chăm chỉ

Chăm chỉ means “hardworking”

Cô ấy làm việc rất chăm chỉ.

means “She is a hardworking person” or “She works really hard”

Cô ấy làm việc rất chăm chỉ.

And the opposite of chăm chỉ is lười biếng

lười biếng

chăm chỉ - lười biếng

Trung thực

Trung thực means “honest”

Trung thực

And the opposite of Trung thực

You can use the word giả dối

giả dối

Hài hước

Hài hước means funny

And we don't really have the opposite word in English, right?

Also in Vietnamese we don't really have it

It's just “You're not funny”

So you can say

Bạn chẳng hài hước gì cả.

That means “You're not funny at all.”

Lịch sự

Lịch sự means “polite”

And the opposite of “polite” is “impolite”, right?

And in Vietnamese you can say bất lịch sự

Bất lịch sự

Bất lịch sự means impolite

And you can also use the word bất as a prefix

So you can put before some words

For example, đồng quan điểm means we have the same opinion

Or we agree with something

But if you say bất đồng quan điểm

That means we disagree to each other

So we have lịch sự and bất lịch sự

Năng động

I really like this one because I really want to be a dynamic person

So you can say in Vietnamese

Tôi muốn là một người năng động.

Kiên nhẫn

Kiên nhẫn means patience

And the opposite of kiên nhẫn is impatient

And in Vietnamese you say thiếu kiên nhẫn

thiếu kiên nhẫn

Thiếu means “lacking” or “missing”

So kiên nhẫn and thiếu kiên nhẫn

Vui vẻ

Vui vẻ is a happy word and it means “happy” as well

Vui vẻ

But the opposite, I don't really know what word to use

So you actually can say buồn bã

buồn bã means sad

So vui vẻ và buồn bã

Mạnh mẽ

Mạnh mẽ means a very strong or tough person

Who never gives up or who always wants to try

Mạnh mẽ

The opposite of mạnh mẽ is yếu đuối

yếu đuối

Tử tế

Tử tế means “kind” or “kind person”

And if you want to say “kindness”

You want to change an adjective to a noun

Then you can just put one word sự

So “kindness” will be sự tử tế

sự tử tế

So also you can use for example “intelligent” and “intelligence”

“Intelligent” is thông minh and “intelligence” is sự thông minh

sự thông minh

Tốt

Tốt means “good”, “a good person”

And you can use tốt for everything

For things, for people, for situations

For whatever you want

And the opposite of tốt is xấu

Xấu

Xấu means “bad” but also means “ugly”.

Đầy năng lượng

Đầy năng lượng means energetic

“She is a very energetic person” that you can use

Cô ấy là một người đầy năng lượng.

And the opposite of “energetic” which is “low energy”

So in Vietnamese you can say thiếu năng lượng

Thiếu năng lượng

Thiếu here means “lacking” or “missing something”

Thiếu năng lượng that means “low energy”.

Dũng cảm

Dũng cảm means “brave” or “very strong” as well

Or “courageous”

Dũng cảm

And the opposite of dũng cảm is nhút nhát

nhút nhát

nhút nhát means “shy”

Nhiệt tình

Nhiệt tình means “enthusiastic”

And we don't have the opposite for this word

We just say không nhiệt tình

That means “not enthusiastic”

Không nhiệt tình

Nhiệt tình and Không nhiệt tình

Hào phóng

Hào phón

Hào phóng means “generous”

But the opposite of hào phóng

You can use the word keo kiệt

keo kiệt

So keo kiệt is a little bit formal

But if you want to use it in a funny way

Or if you want to nicely blame your friend

That they're not generous to you

So you can use Ki bo

Ki bo

Ki bo also means the same

But it sounds lighter

It sounds less serious

And it's like a nicely blame ok?

Also we have some negative feelings

Or negative personalities

That I want to share with you

For example, for a rude person

Or very impolite

You can say thô lỗ

Thô lỗ

Thô lỗ means “rude”

Thô lỗ

The person who is always overthinking

Or who is always making things more complicated

Then you can say

Người hay suy nghĩ

Hay suy nghĩ means they “think too much”

Or they “overthink”

And also, for example someone is always overreacting

Then you can say

Phản ứng thái quá

Now this is my question for you

What kind of person do you think you are?

Then in Vietnamese you can say

Bạn nghĩ bạn là một người như thế nào?

Ok, that's all for today

Very helpful, right?

So, bạn nghĩ bạn là một người như thế nào?

Comments

Hide