This post will cover greetings in Vietnamese and how Vietnamese people greet each other.
To pronounce Vietnamese words mentioned in this post, refer to Tools.
Table of Contents
Hello
Just as there is no one word for “you”, there is also no one word equivalent for “hello” in Vietnamese. While we use “chào” to greet, we don’t use just “chào”. We never use just “chào” to say hello.
To greet in Vietnamese, you must first know how to address people in Vietnamese.
Once you know how to address people in Vietnamese, you just need to add “chào” in the front to say hi to the person.
For example, to say hi to someone who’s younger than you, young enough to be your brother or sister, you say:
Chào em
Applying what you have learned in lesson Addressing people and add “chào” in the front, we have “chào chị”, “chào anh”, “chào cô”, “chào chú”, etc., to say hi to different people.
Sometimes, when you want to be more respectful to the older people, you can add the word that you use to address yourself in front of “chào.”
For example: “con chào chú” or “em chào anh“
If you have learned somewhere that “hello” is “xin chào”, let me tell you this. We almost never say “xin chào” to each other in daily conversation. The only time you would hear someone say “xin chào” is when you watch a Vietnamese TV show (a host may say “xin chào” to the audience) or when someone is giving a speech in front of a large audience or maybe in a business setting. “Xin” means “beg” so basically “xin chào” can be literally translated to “I beg to say hello.” It is a formal way to say “hello” and to show respect. Also, you don’t just say “xin chào”. Just like how you use “chào” as mentioned above, you always have to address the person or people you’re talking to after “xin chào”.
Another way to respectfully say hello to others is “kính chào”. “Kính chào” is also not very common in daily conversation. It is mostly used in similar situations mentioned above when using “xin chào”. “Kính” in “kính chào” means “respectful” or “respectfully”. We also don’t just say “kính chào”. We always have to address who we’re speaking to.
For example, when I was in middle school, there was a foreign guest speaker at my school’s formal annual event. To begin his speech in front of hundreds of us, he said, “Hello everyone.” The interpreter then said, “Kính chào thầy hiệu trưởng, ban giám hiệu nhà trường, các thầy cô, quý vị phụ huynh và toàn thể các em học sinh trường [name of the school]”. No joke. It did happen. Even though we all knew at that time what “hello everyone” means, it was important to pay respect to the people with authority in the school and everyone else that was present.
The meaning of that sentence can be translated to “Hello/Greetings to the Principal, the school’s Board of Directors, teachers, parents and all students from [name of school] school.”
How are you?
To ask someone how he or she is, you first address the person then add “khỏe không?“
For example: “Anh khỏe không?”
The word “khỏe” means fine and “không” means not. Together, they mean “fine or not” or “how are you” but without the “you”. To say “you”, you need to learn how to address people.
I’m fine
To say I’m fine, you just simply say “khỏe“, which means “fine.” You can use the word to address yourself in front of “khỏe” but it is not necessary in most cases.
If you respond to someone who is much older than you, you can add “dạ” in front of “khỏe” to show respect.
For example:
A: Con khỏe không?
B: Dạ khỏe.
Good morning. Good afternoon, Good evening.
We don’t say “good morning”, “good afternoon” or “good evening” to each other. It sounds weird to say those to each other in Vietnamese. No one says it.
However, you may see some translations like “chào buổi sáng”, “chào buổi chiều”, “chào buổi tối”. Those are not words used in Vietnamese culture but rather to help Vietnamese people understand what “good morning”, “good afternoon” or “good evening” means in Vietnamese. They are basically Vietnamese translation of English words, but we don’t use them to say hello in daily conversation.
“Morning” means “buổi sáng”. “Afternoon” means “buổi chiều”. “Evening” means “buổi tối”. Since “good morning”, “good afternoon” and “good evening” are greetings, “chào” is used before those words to indicate that they are greetings.
Goodbye
To say bye to someone, you use the same phrase as when you say hello. “Chào…”
You can let the person know that you’re leaving by adding “về” or that you’re going somewhere by adding “đi” at the end of the sentence.
For example:
Chào cô, con về.
We discussed “chào cô” above. “Con” means “I” in this situation. If you don’t remember why I is “con” in this sentence, review this lesson. “Về” means “return”. The above sentence can be translated to “Bye auntie, I’m leaving (returning home)”.
Chào anh, em đi.
“Đi” means “go”. The above sentence can be translated to “Goodbye/Bye, I’m going”.