Learn how to use the verb định to talk about your plans
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hey there! I’m Brandon and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is lower beginner Season 1, Lesson 17 - What Are Your Vietnamese Vacation Plans? |
| Huyen: Xin chào! I’m Huyen. |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you'll learn how to talk about your plans. The conversation takes place in a class, and is between Mai and Linh. |
| Huyen: The speakers are classmates, so they'll be using informal Vietnamese. |
| Brandon: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Mai: Năm nay 30/4 được nghỉ 4 ngày đấy. |
| Linh: Cậu có kế hoạch gì không? |
| Mai: Tớ định đi Bangkok. Còn cậu? |
| Linh: Tớ định về quê thăm ông bà. |
| Mai: Quê cậu ở đâu? |
| Linh: Quê tớ ở Quảng Bình. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Mai: Năm nay 30/4 được nghỉ 4 ngày đấy. |
| Linh: Cậu có kế hoạch gì không? |
| Mai: Tớ định đi Bangkok. Còn cậu? |
| Linh: Tớ định về quê thăm ông bà. |
| Mai: Quê cậu ở đâu? |
| Linh: Quê tớ ở Quảng Bình. |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Mai: Năm nay 30/4 được nghỉ 4 ngày đấy. |
| Brandon: We will have four days off for the April 30th holiday this year. |
| Linh: Cậu có kế hoạch gì không? |
| Brandon: Do you have any plans? |
| Mai: Tớ định đi Bangkok. Còn cậu? |
| Brandon: I plan to go to Bangkok. What about you? |
| Linh: Tớ định về quê thăm ông bà. |
| Brandon: I plan to return to my hometown to visit my grandparents. |
| Mai: Quê cậu ở đâu? |
| Brandon: Where's your hometown? |
| Linh: Quê tớ ở Quảng Bình. |
| Brandon: My hometown is in Quang Binh. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Huyen, what’s on April 30th? It must be a special day, right? |
| Huyen: You’re right. April 30th marks one of the most important historical events in Vietnam. |
| Brandon Oh right! On April 30th, 1975, north and south Vietnam were reunited and the long Vietnam War came to an end. |
| Huyen It's often called “ngày giải phóng” - Liberation Day |
| or “ngày thống nhất” - Reunification Day. |
| Brandon: I see. What kinds of events are held to commemorate this day? |
| Huyen: War veterans and soldiers are invited to special talk shows, meetings, and parties. There are special music shows featuring wartime songs. Documentaries recapturing important moments of that day are also shown on all the main TV channels. |
| Brandon: I can imagine the heroic spirit and atmosphere of the day. How many days off do people get, and what do people usually do on those days? |
| Huyen: The following day, May 1st, is the International Workers’ Day and it's a holiday too, so we usually have a 2-day holiday on this occasion. |
| Brandon: I see. Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: The first word we shall see is: |
| Huyen: năm nay [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: this year |
| Huyen: năm nay [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: năm nay [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: nghỉ [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to rest/sleep, to be off (work/study) |
| Huyen: nghỉ [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: nghỉ [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: kế hoạch [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: plan |
| Huyen: kế hoạch [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: kế hoạch [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: định [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to plan, to intend |
| Huyen: định [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: định [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: về [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to return, to come back |
| Huyen: về [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: về [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: quê [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: hometown |
| Huyen: quê [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: quê [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: thăm [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to visit |
| Huyen: thăm [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: thăm [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: ông bà [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: grandparents |
| Huyen: ông bà [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: ông bà [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| Huyen: Quảng Bình [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: a province in central Vietnam |
| Huyen: Quảng Bình [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: Quảng Bình [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.The first word is… |
| Huyen: nghỉ |
| Brandon: In this lesson, it means “to be off work or school,” which refers to the holiday. |
| Huyen: Please note that to express that there's a day off, we say “được nghỉ,” which is a passive voiced phrase. “Được” itself is a verb meaning “to get or receive”. It's put before another verb to form its passive voice. So the verb phrase “được nghỉ” literally means… |
| Brandon: "to be given rest." |
| Huyen: To mention the period of the holiday, add the number of days, weeks, or months right after the phrase “được nghỉ”. |
| Brandon: Here are some examples... |
| Huyen: được nghỉ 1 ngày |
| Brandon: "have 1 day off" |
| Huyen: được nghỉ 4 ngày |
| Brandon: "have 4 days off" |
| Huyen: được nghỉ 2 tuần |
| Brandon: "have 2 weeks off" |
| Huyen: được nghỉ 1 tháng |
| Brandon: "have 1 month off" |
| Huyen: The second word is, “quê” |
| Brandon: Which means "hometown," a place where a person was born, or where his parents or grandparents were born. |
| Huyen: But this word is mostly associated with a small town or province that is far from big cities, because it also means “countryside”. |
| Brandon: So if a person was born in a big city like Ha Noi or Ho Chi Minh, they wouldn't refer to their home city as... |
| Huyen: “quê”. In the dialogue you heard the verb phrase “về quê” which in this situation means “to return to the hometown”. |
| Brandon: But “quê” also means “the countryside” so if you want to say “to go to the countryside” then you should use: |
| Huyen: “đi về miền quê” |
| Brandon: Which literally means “to go toward the countryside area”. |
| Huyen: Finally, we have a proper name, Quảng Bình. |
| Brandon: A province in the central Vietnam, which is about 500 kilometers south of Ha Noi. It's also among the top tourist destinations in central Vietnam. Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the verb… |
| Huyen: “định” |
| Brandon: ...to talk about your plans. In the dialogue, there are two sample sentences. |
| Huyen: Tớ định đi Bangkok. |
| Brandon: “I plan to go to Bangkok.” |
| Huyen: Tớ định về quê thăm ông bà. |
| Brandon: “I plan to return to my hometown to visit my grandparents.” |
| Huyen: To mention something you plan to do, start with the verb “định,” which means “to plan or to intend,” then add the main verb indicating the action you’re going to take right after “định”. |
| Brandon: The main structure is... |
| Huyen: Subject, followed by “định,” then the main verb. |
| Brandon: An object can be added right after that verb if you would like to add one. Time phrases, can be put at the beginning or the end of the sentence. |
| Huyen: If there's a phrase of location, it's usually put right after the verb phrase. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear some examples. |
| Huyen: Tôi định đi du học tại Úc vào năm sau. |
| Brandon: "I plan to go to Australia to study next year." |
| Huyen: Tuần tới, lớp tôi định đi cắm trại.. |
| Brandon: "My class plans to go camping next week." |
| Huyen: Anh ấy định nghỉ việc ở công ty hiện tại. |
| Brandon: “He plans to quit his job at the current company.” |
| Huyen: To talk about something that you don't plan to do, simply change “định” into its negative form by adding “không,” which means “no or not” right before “định”. The rest remains unchanged. |
| Brandon: For example…. |
| Huyen: Tôi không định chuyển việc trong năm nay. |
| Brandon: "I don’t plan to change my job this year." |
| Huyen: Cô ấy không định đi đâu cuối tuần này cả. |
| Brandon: "She doesn't plan to go anywhere this weekend." |
| Huyen: You can also talk about a plan that you failed to do by starting with “đã định,” which means “had planned”, followed by the main verb phrase indicating the action, then add “nhưng,” meaning “but,” and finally state the reason. |
| Brandon: Listeners, think about your plan for next week and try telling us about it in Vietnamese in the comments! |
Outro |
| Brandon: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to check the lesson notes to review what you have learned in this lesson. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you in the next lesson. Bye! |
| Huyen: Tạm biệt! |
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