Learn how to use conditional sentences
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 5 - Haggling at a Vietnamese Market. Eric here. |
| Hoang Anh: Chào. I'm Hoang Anh. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use conditional sentences in Vietnamese. The conversation takes place in an outdoor market. |
| Hoang Anh: It's between Tâm and a fruit seller. |
| Eric: They will speak informally, which is common at markets in Vietnam. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Tâm: Chị ơi, cam này bao nhiêu tiền một cân? |
| Người bán hàng: Bốn mươi ngàn (40,000 VND) em nhé. |
| Tâm: Đắt thế! Có bớt không chị? Ba mươi ngàn (30,000 VND) được không? |
| Người bán hàng: Không được em ơi. Sao rẻ vậy được? Cam Sài Gòn xịn đấy. |
| Tâm: Nếu em mua nhiều thì có được giảm giá không? |
| Người bán hàng: Nếu em mua năm (5) cân trở lên thì chị sẽ lấy ba mươi lăm ngàn (35,000 VND) thôi. |
| Tâm: Cam ngọt không chị? |
| Người bán hàng: Ngọt lắm. Đây, cho em ăn thử. |
| Tâm: Vậy, cho em lấy 5 cân nhé. |
| Người bán hàng: Của em đây. một trăm bảy lăm ngàn. (175,000VND) |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Tâm: Miss, how much is one kilogram of these oranges? |
| Seller: Forty thousand Dong, sister. |
| Tâm: So expensive! Can you reduce the price? Is thirty thousand Dong okay? |
| Seller: No way, sister. How could they be that cheap? These are authentic Saigon oranges. |
| Tâm: If I buy a lot, will I get a discount? |
| Seller: If you buy five or more kilograms, I'll only charge thirty five thousand Dong. |
| Tâm: Are they sweet? |
| Seller: Super sweet. Here, you can try one. |
| Tâm: So let me have five kilograms. |
| Seller: Here you are, one hundred seventy five thousand Dong. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Hoang Anh, I know that because of its location, Vietnam has countless numbers of tasty fruits. |
| Hoang Anh: Right. Southern Vietnam, with its warm weather and high humidity all year round, is the largest producer of fruit in the whole country. Fruits in southern Vietnam are very fresh, and rich in flavor and vitamins. |
| Eric: Where can you buy those fruits? |
| Hoang Anh: They are sold on every street and at every market for reasonable prices. If you go to the provinces in the Mekong Delta, you can enjoy fresh fruit right from the gardens and orchards. |
| Eric: What’s the best season for buying fruit? |
| Hoang Anh: The best time to enjoy fruit in Vietnam is the summer, from May to September. It’s the season for mangoes, purple mangosteens, pineapples, durians, rambutans, star apples, jack fruits, papayas, and so on. Also, don't forget to try coconut juice, which is the best fresh drink in summer in Vietnam. |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Hoang Anh: cam [natural native speed] |
| Eric: orange |
| Hoang Anh: cam [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: cam [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: cân [natural native speed] |
| Eric: kilogram |
| Hoang Anh: cân [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: cân [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: không được [natural native speed] |
| Eric: no way, it can't be |
| Hoang Anh: không được [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: không được [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: xịn [natural native speed] |
| Eric: real, authentic, expensive |
| Hoang Anh: xịn [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: xịn [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: được giảm giá [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to get a discount |
| Hoang Anh: được giảm giá [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: được giảm giá [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: trở lên [natural native speed] |
| Eric: over, above |
| Hoang Anh: trở lên [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: trở lên [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: lấy [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to take, to get |
| Hoang Anh: lấy [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: lấy [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: thôi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: only |
| Hoang Anh: thôi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: thôi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Hoang Anh: ngọt [natural native speed] |
| Eric: sweet |
| Hoang Anh: ngọt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: ngọt [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Hoang Anh: ăn thử [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to taste, to try eating |
| Hoang Anh: ăn thử [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Hoang Anh: ăn thử [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Hoang Anh: không được |
| Eric: which means “no way,” “it can't be.” |
| Hoang Anh: không means “no, not” and được means “fine,” “ok.” |
| Eric: So, it literally means “That's not OK.” You can use this phrase to forcefully turn down someone's request. |
| Hoang Anh: We use không được to reply to a friend or a younger person. Please don't use it to reply to an older person. |
| Eric: Hoang Anh, how can you reply to an older person? |
| Hoang Anh: To reply to an older person, we would say không được đâu ạ. Basically, không được is strong and sounds bossy. To make it softer, we can say không được đâu instead of just không được, or add a pronoun and particle after it. For example, không được em ơi, which means “That's not OK, sister.” |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Hoang Anh: Sure. For example... A says Cho tớ đi nhờ về nhé, and B answers with Không được or Không được đâu. Hôm nay tớ có việc nên sẽ đi đường khác. |
| Eric: Here A says “Can you give me a ride home?” and B answers “Sorry, I can’t. I have something to do today, so I'll go another way.” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Hoang Anh: xịn |
| Eric: which in English is “real,” “authentic.” |
| Hoang Anh: Actually, xịn has several meanings. |
| Eric: The first meaning is “expensive,” “luxurious,” “high quality,” and the second meaning is “genuine,” “authentic,” or “true.” You can use this word to describe products, such as clothes, cars, food and so on. |
| Hoang Anh: Listeners, please remember that xịn is a colloquial word, so please avoid using it in formal situations. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Hoang Anh: Sure. Dạo này mặc toàn quần áo xịn nhỉ. Mới trúng xổ số à? |
| Eric: .. which means “You're wearing only luxurious clothes these days. You just won the lottery?” Okay, what's the last word? |
| Hoang Anh: trở lên |
| Eric: which means “over,” or “above.” |
| Hoang Anh: trở lên literally means “from here and up.” When it comes after a noun phrase showing quantity it doesn't simply mean “over...above,” but means “including this number and above,” or “from that quantity and above.” |
| Eric: Hoang Anh, where should we place the word in a sentence? |
| Hoang Anh: You can use trở lên in the following structure- number plus noun classifier plus noun plus trở lên. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example? |
| Hoang Anh: Sure. For example, you can say.. Bạn sẽ được giảm giá 10% khi mua 2 sản phẩm trở lên. |
| Eric: .. which means “You'll get a 10% discount if you buy two or more products.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use conditional sentences in Vietnamese. There are two types of conditional sentence. The first type is for a present or future condition, a condition that is likely to happen. |
| Hoang Anh: The grammar structure is Nếu plus subject 1 plus verb and then the object, if there is one. Then we have thì plus subject 2 plus sẽ, which means “will” plus a verb and the optional object. |
| Eric: If subjects 1 and 2 are the same, one of them can be removed, and the other parts stay the same. |
| Hoang Anh: Listeners, please note that this structure still applies if the conditional clause is unreal. |
| Eric: Hoang Anh, can you give us some examples? |
| Hoang Anh: Sure. For example..Nếu An đỗ đại học thì (cô ấy) sẽ được bố mẹ thưởng cho một chuyến du lịch nước ngoài. |
| Eric: Meaning “If An passes the university exam, she will be given a trip to a foreign country by her parents.” |
| Hoang Anh: Nếu anh không đến đúng giờ thì tôi sẽ về luôn đấy. |
| Eric: “If you don’t come on time, I’ll go home immediately.” |
| Hoang Anh: Nếu tôi giàu như Bill Gates, tôi sẽ đi du lịch vòng quanh thế giới. |
| Eric: “If I were as rich as Bill Gates, I would travel around the world.” |
| Hoang Anh: Nếu là hoa, tôi sẽ là một đóa hướng dương. |
| Eric: “If I were a flower, I would be a sunflower.” Ok! The next type of conditional sentences are for past conditions, when the condition is about the past and not likely to happen. |
| Hoang Anh: The grammar structure is Nếu plus subject 1 plus verb plus object, if there is one. Then we have thì plus subject 2 plus đã, which means “already,” plus a verb and again the optional object. |
| Eric: If subjects 1 and 2 are the same, one of them can be removed, and the other parts remain the same. Listeners, this structure can also be applied if the conditional clause is unreal. Hoang Anh, can you give us some examples? |
| Hoang Anh: Sure. First, Nếu tôi làm việc chăm chỉ hơn thì đã có thể hoàn thành công việc trong hôm nay. |
| Eric: Meaning “If I had worked harder, I would have been able to finish the work today.” |
| Hoang Anh: Nếu Nam lắng nghe cô ấy giải thích thì họ đã không chia tay. |
| Eric: “If Nam had listened to her explanation, they wouldn’t have broken up.” |
| Hoang Anh: Nếu tôi thành công như cô ấy thì tôi đã không làm công việc này. |
| Eric: “If I were as successful as her, I wouldn’t have taken this job.” |
| Hoang Anh: Nếu tôi là giám đốc, tôi đã không từ chối đơn hàng đó. |
| Eric: “If I were the director, I wouldn’t have refused that order.” |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Hoang Anh: Tạm biệt. |
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