This post will cover là and how to introduce yourself and others in Vietnamese. The word “là” is often thought to be verb “to be” equivalent in English, but it isn’t always used as verb “to be.” It’s a versatile word. In this post, we will learn how to use “là” to introduce yourself and others, when to to use “là” and when not to use “là.”
Là is simple to use but not easy to explain.
Là is often used as verb to be, but not in all situations. We will examine the situations in which we use “là” in this post.
The good thing about là is that there is only one form. It doesn’t change regardless of pronoun and subject. In English, there are “am,” “is,” and “are.” In Spanish, there are “soy,” “eres,” “es,” etc. In Vietnamese, there is only “là.”
Table of Contents
- When to use “là”
- Introduce name
- Introduce jobs and occupations
- Add details
- Subject + “là” + Noun/Pronoun
- “That” equivalent
- “Là” in a question
- When not to use “là” as verb to be
- Tips to remember
When to use “là”
“Là” is often followed by a noun. It is usually used to identify what something is or who someone is.
Let’s examine some situations in which we use “là.”
Introduce name
You can use this structure to introduce yourself or someone or provide more information about someone. In this situation, “là” works like verb to be.
To introduce your name, you can either say
tôi + là (I + am)
or
tên tôi + là (my name + is)
*Note: “tên tôi” is actually short for “tên của tôi,” which literally translates to “name of me” with “của” indicates possessive like “of.”
or
tôi + tên + là (I’m named)
For example:
| Pronoun | là | name |
| Tôi | là | David |
| Anh ấy (Anh đó) | là | Hùng |
| Chị ấy (Anh đó) | là | Liên |
or
| Tên | pronoun | là | name |
| Tên | tôi | là | Mary |
| Tên | anh ấy (anh đó) | là | Chris |
| Tên | cô ấy (cô đó) | là | Mai |
or
| Pronoun | tên | là | name |
| Tôi | tên | là | Bảo |
| Chú ấy (Chú đó) | tên | là | Duy |
| Bác ấy (Bác đó) | tên | là | Lâm |
To review pronouns in Vietnamese, review here.
Introduce jobs and occupations
To introduce jobs and occupations of someone, you use the same formula as above:
Pronoun + là + Job/Occupation
For example:
If you do not remember job/occupation vocabulary, you can review it here.
Add details
Now what if you want to give more details? Say, what if you don’t want to say you are a student in general but you want to specify which school you go to?
In that case, you just add more details after the job or occupation. In Vietnamese, you identify what it is first before you describe it. That is why after you identify the job, you can now describe it.
So let’s say you want to say that you are a college student from Stanford University. We need to identify the object first so we will say trường đại học, which means university, then we identify which university by saying name following trường đại học. As a result, Stanford University is trường đại học Stanford in Vietnamese.
Now let’s try this example. I am going to do it step-by-step so you understand how the sentence is structured. It may be tedious but it is very important that you grasp the concept, not just for this lesson but for application in most sentences in Vietnamese.
Okay, let’s start.
Emily wants to introduce herself to Zach, a young man who is one year older than Emily. She is a college student from Stanford University. How does Emily introduce herself?
Em tên là Emily. Em là sinh viên.
Now Zach knows that Emily is a college student but from where?
From a university.
Em tên là Emily. Em là sinh viên trường đại học.
Which university?
Em tên là Emily. Em là sinh viên trường đại học Stanford.
Subject + “là” + Noun/Pronoun
“Là” can be used for other purposes beside introducing yourself and others. It can be used to identify something or someone. In that case, it can be understood as verb “to be” in English.
The following formula is the most basic and probably the most common grammar structure in Vietnamese.
Subject + là + Noun/Pronoun
For example:
Đó là con thỏ. (That is a rabbit.)
Người mà anh thích là em. (The person I like is you.)
“That” equivalent
Though “là” doesn’t mean “that,” in some cases, it can be used as the equivalent to “that” in English.
For example:
She told me that you like fish.
Cô ấy nói với tôi là anh thích cá.
In this case, it could also be understood as “what she told me is (that) you like fish.”
Another example:
I thought that I needed it.
Tôi đã từng nghĩ là tôi cần nó.
In this case, it could be understood as “what I thought was that I needed it.”
Vietnamese people use the word “là” for “that” in situations like this all the the time. We use it more often than you think.
For example:
Mẹ đã nói với con là làm bài xong rồi mới được chơi game mà.
I told you that you could only play game after you finished homework.
“Là” in a question
As mentioned above, là is used to identify something or someone. Instead of using là to introduce yourself and others in Vietnamese, you can also use it in questions to get more information about someone or something.
For example:
Em là ai?
The above question means “who are you?” But when you look closely, the question’s structure is not that different from the structure we have just learned above. Let’s take a look.
We have learned that to introduce someone or something, we use subject + là + noun/pronoun. Therefore, following this formula, “em là Mary” means “I am Mary.” To change this statement to a question, you can just replace the unknown with the appropriate word, in this case, ai (who) and put question mark at the end.
The question is then: Em là ai?
Now let’s try the following sentence.
Mary là ai?
If you think it means “who is Mary?” you are correct.
Let’s take a look at a few more examples. Since this lesson is about là, don’t worry too much about the other words that you don’t know. Details about them will be covered in later posts. For now, let’s focus on how “là” is used.
Đây là cái gì? (What is this?)
Notice that the above question follows the same structure we mentioned earlier: S + là + noun/pronoun but the noun/pronoun part has been replaced with “cái gì”?
Từ này nghĩa là gì? (“What does this word mean?” Or it could be understood as “what is the meaning of this word?”)
When not to use “là” as verb to be
As previously mentioned, the word “là” isn’t always used as verb “to be.” When do you not use “là” as verb “to be”?
Do not use “là” when talking about feelings.
In Vietnamese, we do not use “là” when talking about feelings.
For example:
“I was surprised when I saw her.”
We do not say “tôi là ngạc nhiên khi tôi thấy cô ấy.” We say “tôi ngạc nhiên khi tôi thấy cô ấy.” “Là” in this situation does not work as verb to be. In Vietnamese, we do not use verb “to be” when we talk about feelings. But that doesn’t mean we don’t use “là” because the verb to be is omitted. It just doesn’t mean “was” in this situation.
Do not use “là” with verb or in passive voice.
As mentioned in the beginning, “là” is often followed by noun. We do not use “là” with verb or in passive voice.
For example:
“The tree was struck by lightning.”
In this case, even though there is verb to be in the above English sentence, in Vietnamese we do not use “là” as “struck” is a verb. We do not say “cái cây đó là sét đánh.” It makes no sense in Vietnamese. When talking about something is being negatively impacted by an action in Vietnamese, we use the word “bị” to indicate that the passive voice.
In this case, the correct way to say “the tree was struck by lightning” in Vietnamese is that “cái cây đó bị sét đánh.”
Anoter example:
“I was rewarded with a vacation in Hawaii.”
When talking about something is being positively impacted by an action in Vietnamese, we use the word “được” to indicate passive voice. In this case, the example above is translated into Vietnamese as “tôi được thưởng một kỳ nghỉ ở Hawaii” instead of “tôi là thưởng một kỳ nghỉ ở Haiwaii.”
Do not use “là” with adjective or adverb.
“Là” is often used as verb to be when introducing someone, but it is often followed by Noun or phrase. It is never followed by adjective.
For example:
“She is pretty.” (Cô ấy đẹp.)
“You’re so smart.” (Anh thông minh quá.)
Do not use “là” when talking about location.
In English, we often use verb “to be” when talking about location.
For example:
“I am on H Street.”
“I am at the hospital.”
Even though “là” is often thought to be verb “to be” equivalent, it is not in this situation. We do not use “là” when talking about location.
The two examples when translated into Vietnamese are as follows:
“Tôi đang ở đường H.”
Do not use “là” when talking about time.
In English, we often use verb to be when talking about time.
For example:
“What time is it?” (“Mấy giờ rồi?“)
“It’s 2 pm.” (“2 giờ chiều.“)
Even though we use verb to be in the above sentences in English, “là” is not verb to be in this situation and is not used in these examples.
Tips to remember
With a list of situations when to use and when not to use “là,” what is the easiest way to remember them?
- “Là” is always used to identify someone or someone; therefore, it is always followed by Noun, Pronoun or a phrase. (Review the above sections for details.)
- “Là” can be used as equivalent for “that” in English. (Review the above section for details.)
Other than those situations mentioned above, we don’t use “là” even though there may be verb to be in some situations in English or other languages. This is why I do not recommend thinking of “là” as verb to be or relating it to an equivalent or its usage in another language. It is easier to just remember how to use “là” to make certain types of sentences in Vietnamese.