Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Brandon: Hey there! I’m Brandon and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is lower beginner, Season 1, Lesson 15 - Which Vietnamese Person Does this iPad Belong To?
Huyen: Xin chào! I’m Huyen.
Brandon: In this lesson, you'll learn how to express ownership. The conversation takes place at a cafeteria and is between Nam and Bách.
Huyen: The speakers are friends, so they'll be using informal Vietnamese.
Brandon: Let’s listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

Nam: Ipad này đẹp quá. Của cậu à?
Bách: Không, đây là Ipad của anh tớ đấy.
Nam: Anh cậu mua ở đâu thế?
Bách: Trên Amazon.
Nam: Anh ấy chắc là fan của Apple nhỉ.
Bách: Ừ, anh ấy rất thích các thiết bị của Apple.
Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly.
Nam: Ipad này đẹp quá. Của cậu à?
Bách: Không, đây là Ipad của anh tớ đấy.
Nam: Anh cậu mua ở đâu thế?
Bách: Trên Amazon.
Nam: Anh ấy chắc là fan của Apple nhỉ.
Bách: Ừ, anh ấy rất thích các thiết bị của Apple.
Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation.
Nam: Ipad này đẹp quá. Của cậu à?
Brandon: This iPad is so nice. Is it yours?
Bách: Không, đây là Ipad của anh tớ đấy.
Brandon: No, this is my older brother's iPad.
Nam: Anh cậu mua ở đâu thế?
Brandon: Where did he buy it?
Bách: Trên Amazon.
Brandon: From Amazon.
Nam: Anh ấy chắc là fan của Apple nhỉ.
Brandon: He must be a fan of Apple, right?
Bách: Ừ, anh ấy rất thích các thiết bị của Apple.
Brandon: Yeah, he really likes Apple's devices.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Brandon: Huyen, what can you tell us about technology in Vietnam?
Huyen: Well, Vietnamese people are very interested in technology. They like to keep themselves up to date with technology.
Brandon: Yeah, I read an article saying that the IT industry in Vietnam is rapidly developing. Do you have any impressive statistics and figures for us?
Huyen: Definitely. The latest IT conference in Vietnam revealed that Vietnam ranked 7th in Asia and 19th in the world regarding the increase in the number of Internet and mobile phone users in 2012.
Brandon: Wow, number 7 in Asia is very impressive. How many people are using the Internet and mobile phones?
Huyen: More than 30 percent of the population is using the Internet, while the number of mobile phones is 1.5 times more than the total population.
Brandon: Interesting. So some people are using more than one phone, right?
Huyen: Exactly.
Brandon: Are smartphones popular? Do you guys use the trendy iPhone or Samsung Galaxy?
Huyen: Smartphones are very popular. Smartphone subscribers increased 5 percent between 2011 and 2012. About 21 percent of the population have a smartphone. Tablet users also increased by three percent in comparison with 2011. Sony, Samsung, and Apple are the most popular brands in Vietnam.
Brandon: Good to know. Ok, now we’ve had a good overview of Vietnam’s information and technology, let’s move on to the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Brandon: The first word we shall see is:
Huyen: đẹp [natural native speed]
Brandon: nice, beautiful
Huyen: đẹp [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: đẹp [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: quá [natural native speed]
Brandon: very, too, so
Huyen: quá [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: quá [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: Của [natural native speed]
Brandon: of
Huyen: Của [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: Của [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: anh [natural native speed]
Brandon: elder brother, I, me, or you
Huyen: anh [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: anh [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: ở đâu [natural native speed]
Brandon: where
Huyen: ở đâu [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: ở đâu [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: chắc là [natural native speed]
Brandon: surely, must be
Huyen: chắc là [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: chắc là [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: nhỉ [natural native speed]
Brandon: right?
Huyen: nhỉ [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: nhỉ [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: anh ấy [natural native speed]
Brandon: he, him
Huyen: anh ấy [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: anh ấy [natural native speed]
And Last:
Huyen: thiết bị [natural native speed]
Brandon: device, accessory
Huyen: thiết bị [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: thiết bị [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Listeners, we have some interesting words for you.
Huyen: First up is quá
Brandon: Which means "too, so, very." If you remember, we've learned about this adverb several times in previous lessons. We're going to introduce another usage here.
Huyen: We know that the adverb “quá” is often put after an adjective or adverb to supplement its meaning. But it can also be put before an adjective or adverb, to express something that's beyond the acceptable or ordinary level.
Brandon: Let’s hear some examples and compare the difference in meaning when its position changes.
Huyen: Cô ấy đẹp quá.
Brandon: "She's so beautiful."
Huyen: Cô ấy quá đẹp.
Brandon: "She's too beautiful." It means her beauty is extremely amazing and it's beyond your expectation or imagination.
Huyen: Ở đây nhiều người quá.
Brandon: "There are so many people here."
Huyen: Ở đây quá nhiều người.
Brandon: "There are too many people here." Meaning it's too crowded, causing an unpleasant feeling.
Huyen: Căn phòng này nhỏ quá.
Brandon: "This room’s so small."
Huyen: Căn phòng này quá nhỏ.
Brandon: "This room’s too small." Meaning it’s smaller than expected and not big enough for use.
Huyen: Ok, the second word is, nhỉ.
Brandon: I’m sure you remember this particle, as it's been used several times in previous dialogues. You put this particle at the end of a statement to confirm what you've said. It's equivalent to the English phrase “isn’t it?” or “right?”
Huyen: For example, Trời đẹp nhỉ?
Brandon: "The weather’s nice, isn’t it?"
Huyen: Mai là ngày nghỉ nhỉ?
Brandon: "Tomorrow’s a holiday, right?"
Huyen: Cậu gọi điện cho Mai rồi nhỉ?
Brandon: "You've called Mai, haven’t you?"
Huyen: Lastly we have a pronoun, “anh ấy”
Brandon: "he” or “him." As you know, the first and second person pronouns in Vietnamese change depending on who you're talking to, and the same goes for the third person pronoun.
Huyen: In this dialogue, the person’s talking with his friend about his older brother, which means a man who's slightly older, so he calls him “anh ấy”.
Brandon: If you're talking about a man who's around your age, you call him...
Huyen: cậu ấy
Brandon: What about a younger man?
Huyen: You'll call him “em ấy” or “nó”. “Nó” is very informal, so you only use it when that man is very close to you, otherwise you'd sound very rude.
Brandon: Okay. What if the man you're talking about is around your father’s age?
Huyen: You'll call him “chú ấy” or “bác ấy”, meaning “that uncle”.
Brandon: And finally, what about an elderly or a honorable man?
Huyen: Then you can use “ông ấy”.
Brandon: So basically, except for...
Huyen: “nó”
Brandon: ...you just need to add
Huyen: ...“ấy”
Brandon: ...after a second person pronoun, then you’ll have the corresponding third person pronoun. Not very complicated, don’t you think? Please refer to the lesson notes for detailed examples of each case. And now let's move on to the grammar.

Lesson focus

Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn the structure to express ownership. Please listen to the example from the dialogue again.
Huyen: Đây là Ipad của anh tớ đấy.
Brandon: "This is my brother’s iPad"
Huyen: The phrase of ownership here is “Ipad của anh tớ”
Brandon: "My brother’s iPad."
Huyen: To express that something is owned by someone, add the noun indicating that thing first, followed by “của” , meaning “of “, then add the noun, pronoun, or proper name indicating the person or organization that owns it.
Brandon: The first noun can also be a person. In this case, this expresses the relationship. Let’s hear several sample phrases.
Huyen: Nhà của tôi
Brandon: "My house"
Huyen: Áo của cô ấy
Brandon: "Her shirt"
Huyen: Xe máy của bố tôi
Brandon: "My father’s motorbike"
Huyen: Túi xách của Mai
Brandon: "Mai’s handbag"
Huyen: Thiết bị của Apple
Brandon: "Apple’s devices"
Huyen: Sản phẩm của Honda
Brandon: "Honda’s products"
Huyen: Bạn gái của Nam
Brandon: "Nam’s girlfriend"
Huyen: Chị gái của anh ấy
Brandon: "His older sister"
Huyen: Nụ cười của cô ấy
Brandon: "Her smile"
Huyen: Khách của công ty
Brandon: "the company’s guest"
Huyen: You can hear that the sample sentence from the dialogue has two possession phrases, iPad của anh tớ
Brandon: "my older brother’s iPad"
Huyen: and “anh tớ”, which should have been “anh của tớ”
Brandon: "my older brother."
Huyen: So Brandon, can you tell the listeners why the preposition “của” is not included here?
Brandon: There are three common cases where that preposition can be removed without affecting the meaning of the phrase. You can either keep or remove it, but Vietnamese people tend to remove it. The first case is…
Huyen: Talking about a house or family.
Brandon: For example, “my house” will be translated as…
Huyen: “nhà tôi” instead of “nhà của tôi”
Brandon: “Their family” will be translated as…
Huyen: “gia đình họ” instead of “gia đình của họ”
Brandon: The second case is, Talking about a name
Huyen: The full translation of “my name” is “tên của tôi” but in most cases, Vietnamese people say “Tên tôi là”
Brandon: "My name is..."
Huyen: The same thing happens with the phrase “your name”. Vietnamese tend to ask “Tên bạn là gì?” instead of “Tên của bạn là gì?”
Brandon: “What’s your name?”
Huyen: And the last case is talking about a relationship. This is why, in the dialogue, “anh tớ”
Brandon: "my older brother"
Huyen: and “anh cậu”
Brandon: "your older brother”
Huyen: were said instead of “anh của tớ” and “anh của cậu”
Brandon: Similarly, “my mother” is
Huyen: mẹ tôi
Brandon: “Nam’s girlfriend” is
Huyen: bạn gái Nam
Brandon: And “his older sister” is…
Huyen: chị gái anh ấy
Brandon: Well, we've basically covered everything about ownership here. Look around you and see what you have, and try practicing the structure we've just learned.
Huyen: We hope you have fun practicing! Leave us a comment letting us know how it went.

Outro

Brandon: And that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to read the lesson notes for more information and detailed examples. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye!
Huyen: Tạm biệt!

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