Dialogue

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Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Hello and welcome to Southern Vietnamese Survival Phrases brought to you by VietnamesePod101.com. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Southern Vietnam. You’ll be surprised at how far a little Vietnamese will go. Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by VietnamesePod101.com. There, you’ll find the accompanying PDF lesson notes and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

Lesson focus
Southern Vietnamese Survival Phrases lesson 21 - Riding the Bus in Southern Vietnam 1.
The bus is an important means of transportation in Vietnam. However, before you get on the bus you might want to confirm if the bus is going to your destination. We can accomplish this by asking "Will this bus go to…" and then add in a destination. In today's lesson, we’ll use Hanoi Station. In Vietnamese, “station” is ga. It’s a simple word which comes from a French word, gare. Now, let’s hear it again, ga.
ga
In Vietnamese "Will this bus go to Hanoi Station?" is Xe này có đi ga Hà Nội không?
Xe này có đi ga Hà Nội không?
Let’s break it down by syllable: Xe này có đi ga Hà Nội không?
Now, let’s hear it once again, Xe này có đi ga Hà Nội không?
The first word, xe, means "vehicle" including bus, car, truck, motorcycles, bicycles, and so on.
Let’s hear the word one more time, xe.
This is followed by này, which in Vietnamese is "this" or "these."
So to recap here, we have xe này.
xe này
Literally this means "this bus."
Let’s take a look at the next word, có.
có
Có means "yes" or affirmative.
The last word, không, means "no" or negative.
Có and không together make a yes-or-no question.
The 4th word, đi, means "go."
Let’s say it again, đi.
đi
So, có - đi - không makes a yes-or-no question "Does it go to?" We can see the grammar of a yes-or-no question in Vietnamese is "subject + có + verb + không?"
So all together we have Xe này có đi ga Hà Nội không? Literally this means "Will this bus go to Hanoi Station?"
Once you have the right bus, there are a few things you need to know about riding the bus:
No. 1: When do you pay?
In Vietnam, when you get on the bus, the conductor will come and collect the fare from you.
No. 2: How much is it?
Like in the US, the fare in Vietnam is also a flat fee.
No. 3: Do you need coins?
In Vietnam, you can pay with coins or bills.
No. 4: How much?
In Vietnam, an average fare for a short distance is usually about 2,000 đồng. When you get on the bus, you should prepare for a small change. In Vietnam, paper money can be a big number like 100, 000 đồng or even more, but the fare is often about 2,000 đồng, plus conductors don’t carry much money with them, so sometimes, if you give them 100,000 đồng bill to pay the 2,000 đồng fare and they don’t have small change to return you, they’ll just kick you off of the bus.
In Vietnamese, actually, there are more ways to say “Will this bus go (somewhere)?” In fact, you can say “Will this bus stop (somewhere)?” since your destination might not be the last stop of the bus. In Vietnamese, “stop” is dừng and “at” is ở, so you can say - Xe này có dừng ở ga Hà Nội không? “Will this bus stop at Hanoi Station?” instead of Xe này có đi ga Hà Nội không? “Will this bus go to Hanoi Station?”

Outro
Okay, to close out today’s lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for shouting it out loud. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so, chúc may mắn, this means “good luck” in Vietnamese.
Okay, here we go!
“Will this bus go to Hanoi station?” - Xe này có đi ga Hà Nội không?
Xe này có đi ga Hà Nội không?
Xe này có đi ga Hà Nội không?
“Will this bus stop at Hanoi Station?” - Xe này có dừng ở ga Hà Nội không?
Xe này có dừng ở ga Hà Nội không?
Xe này có dừng ở ga Hà Nội không?
All right, that's going to do it for this lesson. Remember to stop by VietnamesePod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF lesson notes. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. Bye!

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