Perfect Conversation Starter in Vietnamese

Learn conversation starters

Lesson Transcript

Hi guys, it's Linh again.

Welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com,

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

In this video today, I'm going to share with you some questions

that you can use to start a conversation.

And also, I'm going to share with you what questions you can ask

and what questions you should not ask Vietnamese.

Okay, now let's get started.

The number one question would be to ask about the other person's name

and the very easy one in Vietnamese, we can say

Bạn tên là gì?

means “What's your name?”

So Bạn is a very basic way to start a conversation when you don't know the other person's age.

If you just want to be friendly, or if you want to start a conversation in a very basic way,

we can start with Bạn.

But after knowing each other's ages,

you can use different pronouns to address the other person.

For example,

Chị or anh for older people.

Or Cô or chú for like our parents' generation.

The next one is very common in Vietnamese

because it will decide how you address the other person.

So it's very important to know their age.

But we don't really say how old are you,

but instead we say “In what year were you born?”

So in Vietnamese, we can say

Bạn sinh năm bao nhiêu?

Bạn sinh năm bao nhiêu? means “In what year were you born??

It's not offensive at all to ask someone's age

because it's really important to know

and then you will address them in a proper way or a suitable way. Ok?

Bạn sinh năm bao nhiêu?

Assuming that you are talking to a person who is younger than you,

so I will just use Em.

Another question would be

Em đang đi học hay đi làm?

Em đang đi học hay đi làm? means “Are you a student or are you working?”

It also means are you studying or are you working?

Em đang đi học hay đi làm?

The next one would be asking about leisure time.

So for example, if you want to say “What do you do in your free time?”,

in Vietnamese we say

Bình thường lúc rảnh em làm gì?

Bình thường lúc rảnh em làm gì? Ok?

That means “Usually when you are free, what do you do?”

Bình thường lúc rảnh em làm gì?

Em có thích…không?

Em có thích + something không? means like “Do you like something?”

For example, if you want to say, "Do you like watching movies?”

You can say

Em có thích xem phim không?

Ok?

And if you want to say, "Do you like cooking?”

Em có thích nấu ăn không?

Nhà em ở đâu?

Nhà em ở đâu? means “Where is your house?”. We don't really say where do you live but in Vietnamese you can ask “Where is your house?” like “in which area do you live?”

Okay, and it's very common as well. You don't have to be afraid. Ok?

Nhà em ở đâu?

All right, another question would be

Em có hay về nhà không?

Em có hay về nhà không? means “Do you usually visit your house? or “Do you usually visit your hometown” for cases that that person doesn't live with their family

or doesn't live in their hometown, but they live separately.

Okay, so if you want to ask like how often they visit their family

or their hometown, you can say

Em có hay về nhà không?

Em làm ở đâu?

Em làm ở đâu? means “Where do you work?”

Em làm ở đâu?

Em làm ở đâu? means “Where is your company?”, “Where is your office?”, “Where do you work?” etc.

Just basically the place that you work.

Where do you work?

Em làm ở đâu?

So far so good, right?

Do you feel like we are asking a lot of personal questions?

But it's very okay, it's very common in Vietnam, okay?

When you start a conversation,

it's better to know like a little bit more detail about the other person.

So I'm pretty sure, no, I'm sure that these questions

are okay to ask, so don't worry, okay?

The next question would be asking about siblings.

So in Vietnamese, we have this question.

Em có anh chị em gì không?

That means “Do you have any siblings?” or “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

Em có anh chị em gì không?

Another question would be

Em có được nghỉ cuối tuần không?

Em có được nghỉ cuối tuần không? that means “Do you have to work on weekends?”

So if you want to ask the person out on a date or if you want to just hang out with them,

you can say

Em có được nghỉ cuối tuần không?

And you can set an appointment on the weekend.

Em có được nghỉ cuối tuần không?

Em thích nghe nhạc gì?

Em thích nghe nhạc gì? means “What kind of music do you like?”

Em thích nghe nhạc gì? ok?

So when we ask about hobbies,it's really easy to get to know each other better

or it's really easy to get along well

because maybe you will have something in common.

And instead of using nghe nhạc,

you also can use some other different words.

For example,

Em thích xem phim gì?

That means “What kind of movie do you like?”

Em thích anh gì?

That means “What do you like to eat?”

Or” What do you like eating?”

Em có hay đi du lịch không?

Em có hay đi du lịch không? that means ”Do you travel often?”

Something like that.

So that just means you want to ask

whether that person enjoys traveling.

Em có hay đi du lịch không?

So after each question like this,

you can also ask follow-up questions

to expand the conversation and the topics.

You don't really have to ask many questions at the same time

because it might be a little bit weird.

But take your time and take it slow.

Alright, so after many questions,

maybe this is the time where you want to get

the person's contact, right?

Or Facebook or phone number.

So in Vietnam, we use Zalo a lot

and this is very common for all Vietnamese people.

If you want to ask the other person's phone number

but you don't really want to ask directly,

you can say

Em có Zalo không?

instead.

Em có Zalo không?

Em có Zalo không? means “Do you have Zalo?” or “Do you use Zalo?”

but if they have a phone number, like 99% that they will have Zalo, ok?

Em có Zalo không?

Or you can use

Em có Facebook không?

In Vietnamese, we say Phây-búc, Phây-búc, not “Facebook” like that

Em có Phây-búc không?

Alright, that's it for today

I hope you enjoyed it and I hope they are helpful for you to start a conversation

especially with someone you like

It's very polite, very common you don't have to worry at all

and you can ask the questions anytime you want

So don't forget to like this video subscribe the channel and visit the website

Thank you so much again for watching and see you in the next one

Xin chào và hẹn gặp lại!

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