For the past weeks, I’ve tried to focus on my writing and reading comprehension skills and I’ve came across a useful and free textbook for learning grammar “Elementary Vietnamese” by Binh Nhu Ngo. Each chapter in the book includes grammar points, vocabulary and vocabulary usage notes, essays / text excerpts, practice drills, and writing exercises. Since the book is meant for an introduction to Vietnamese, I am not having a lot of difficulties going through it. The lessons are easy to grasp and most of the vocabularies are familiar to me. Whatever lesson or grammar point I do not understand, my language partner has been helpful in explaining.
For example, the book does not do a very good job of explaining the past tense indicator đã and rồi. According to my language partner, they have similar functions and are usually interchangeable, but đã is a simple formal past tense indicator while rồi is a past tense indication that emphasizes an action that is already done. It is typically paired with đã to mean “already”. For an informal past tense indication, just rồi is used.
Ex: Anh ấy đã học xong. He has finished studying. (formal)
Anh ấy học xong rồi. He has finished studying. (informal)
Anh ấy đã học xong rồi. He has already finished studying.
The part that really messed with me was that rồi can also be used to indicate sequential actions.
Ex: Anh ấy học xong rồi đi chơi. He finished studying and then went out to play.
My language partner explained that đã will always appear after the subject and before the verb. Rồi always will appear at the end of the sentence if it used to indicate past tense. Rồi will appears in the middle of the sentence if it is joining sequential clauses.
One grammar point that I am having a lot of difficulty with are comparisons of adjectives.
- Như and bằng are equal comparison indications that can be paired with cũng for emphasis of the equal comparison. Như and bằng are completely interchangeable and are more of a regional preference. For the southern accent, như is more common but bằng is also used.
Ex: Cái túi nầy to bằng cái túi đó. This bag is as big as that bag.
Cái túi nầy to như cái túi đó. This bag is as big as that bag.
Cái túi nầy cũng to bằng cái túi đó. This bag just as big as that bag.
Cái túi nầy cũng to như cái túi đó. This bag just as big as that bag.
- Hơn is used to indicate an unequal comparison where the preceding object or subject display more of some adjectival feature than the following object or subject. Hơn can also be pair with Cũng, but Cũng will indicate a similarity comparison to a previously established notion and will take on the meaning of “also”.
Ex: Cái túi nầy to hơn cái túi đó. This bag bigger than that bag.
Cái túi nầy cũng to hơn cái túi đó. This bag is also bigger than that bag.
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