New Year Resolutions: Will and Should, or Won’t and Should Not?

Everyone has at least one of them. Some have more than others. And most go unfulfilled throughout the year: those inevitable hapless New Year resolutions.

I bet this appeared at least one in everyone’s list some time:

Tôi	nên	giảm	cân
I	should	decrease	kilogram

which means “I should lose weight.” Now that’s it’s near the end of the year, what other resolutions did you have? Which one did you accomplish? Which one is still hanging? 🙂 What resolutions are you making this year?

Me personally, I substitute the resolution above with

Tôi	nên	tập thể dục	nhiều	hơn
I	should	exercise	many	more

“I should exercise more” which works for me.

“Should” and “ought to” is nên in Vietnamese. It is used before the verb just like in English: nên + verb

should not do something? subject + không + nên + verb

will do something – subject + sẽ + verb

won’t do something – subject + sẽ + không + verb

won’t do something any more? – subject + sẽ + không + verb + nữa

The following are some of the popular resolutions:

Tôi	nên	tiết kiệm	hơn
I	should	(be) thrifty	more

I should save more / be more thrifty

Tôi	sẽ	bỏ	thuốc lá
I	will	quit	cigarette

I will quit smoking/drinking

Tôi	sẽ	không	thức khuya	nữa
I	will	not	stay up late	any more

I won’t stay up late any more

Năm	nay	tôi	sẽ	dành	nhiều	thời gian	cho	gia đình	hơn
Year	this	I	will	set aside	many	time	for	family	more

This year I will set aside more time for family

Bạn	nên	chăm	học	tiếng Việt	hơn
You	should	hardworking	study	Vietnamese	more

You should study Vietnamese harder 🙂

With the upcoming Tết food, good luck with Tôi nên giảm cân!

Bonus: Can you name all the Vietnamese food below? 🙂

Daily Activities in Vietnamese

Pick up a few of these phrases, and you’re good for your daily activities in Vietnamese:)

đi làm – go to work

đi học – go to school (go to study)

đi ăn – go to eat (go out to eat)

đi chơi – go out (go out to play)

đi về (nhà) – to return (home)

đi ngủ – go to sleep

đi xem phim – go watch movies

đi nhậu, đi uống – go to drink beers with snacks

đi nhảy – go dancing

đi chợ – go to the market for groceries

đi mua sắm – go shopping (for things in general, including clothes, furniture, etc.)

đi vệ sinh – go to the restroom

đi tắm – go take a bath/shower

As usual, the structure is person + verb.

And now you’re itching to ask me about đi: đi by itself means “to go.”

In Vietnamese, đi is put in front of a verb like làm (to work), học (to study), ăn (to eat), etc. to indicate that the next action is a change from the previous action.

Here are a few sample sentences to illustrate the difference:

Tôi ăn phở – I eat phở

Tôi đi ăn phở – I go out to eat phở.

Mấy giờ	em bé	ngủ?
What time	baby	sleep?

What time does the baby fall asleep?

Mấy giờ	em bé	đi ngủ?
What time	baby	go to sleep?

What time does the baby go to sleep? (What time do you get the baby to go to sleep?)

Don’t do something!… in Vietnamese

“Don’t” in Vietnamese is đừng. You put in in front of the verb just like in English.

Đừng	mua	cái đó!
Don’t	buy	that thing!

Don’t buy that!

Đừng	cho	muối	vào	cà phê
Don’t	put	salt	into	coffee

Don’t put salt into coffee!

Đừng	hút	thuốc lá
Don’t	smoke	cigarette

Don’t smoke!

Xin	đừng	quên	tôi
Please	don’t	forget	me!

Forget-me-not!

Đừng	giả vờ	không	sợ	ma
Don’t	pretend	not	scared of	ghosts

Don’t pretend not to be scared of ghosts!

Đừng can also be used with “feeling” adjectives such as “happy, sad, worried, etc.”

Đừng	buồn
Don’t	be sad

Đừng	lo
Don’t	worry

Đừng can also be used with certain “action” adjectives. For example

Đừng	keo kiệt	quá
Don’t	(be) stingy	too

Don’t be too stingy!

Đừng	dại dột	dùng	ma túy
Don’t	foolish	use	drugs

Don’t be foolish and use drugs!

Go ahead, jump off the cliff!

Use cứ when you want to say “go ahead (and do something)” in Vietnamese. It is placed before the verb: cứ + verb.

Nếu	anh	cần	máy tính	thì	cứ	mượn	nhé!
If	you	need	computer	then	go ahead	borrow

If you need a computer, (feel free to) go ahead and borrow (mine).

Em	cứ	ăn	cơm	trước	đi!
You	go ahead	eat	rice	before

You go ahead and eat (before me)!

Anh	cứ	đi	ngủ	đi!
You (male)	go ahead	go	sleep

You go ahead and sleep.

Chúng tôi	cứ	đi	xem	căn hộ	được không?
We	go ahead	go	see	apartment	ok?

Is it ok if we go ahead and take a look at the apartment?

Mọi người	cứ	đi	vào	trong	nhà	đã!
Everyone	go ahead	go	into	inside	house	first!

Everyone, go ahead and get inside the house first! (suppose a group of friends go to visit a friend’s place but not everyone is there yet, the house’s owner may say this to invite everyone inside and don’t have to wait for the last person to show up)

————–

cứ việc is similar, but it implies that since something is so obvious, you should just go ahead and do it.

Đã	trả	tiền	nhà	rồi	thì	cứ việc	dọn vào
Did	pay	money	house	already	then	go ahead	move in

If you paid the rent already, then go ahead and move in.

————–

Other grammar structures used in this lesson:

– nhé and đi are placed at the end of a sentence to make a command. You can review here.

– đã is used at the end of a sentence to say that you must do something fist, before doing something else. You can review here.

– Nếu… thì means “If… then…” You can review here.

– rồi means “already.” You can review here.

– được không? means “is it okay (to do something)?”. The review is here.

The more… the more in Vietnamese – càng… càng

In Vietnamese, càng… càng… is similar to “the more… the more…” in English. Càng is placed before a verb or an adjective. Its usage is similar to its English equivalent.

Càng	đi bộ	lâu	chúng ta	càng	khát	nước
the more	walk	long (time)	we	the more	thirsty	water

The longer we walk, the thirstier we get.

Trời	càng	nóng	thì	xoài	càng	sai quả
sky	more	hot	then	mango	more	fruitful

The hotter the weather becomes, the more fruits the mango (tree) bear.

càng	xa	càng	nhớ
the more	far	the more	(to) miss

The further (you’re away), the more (I) miss (you)

Càng ngày means “the more time passes…” (ngày means “day). It can be used at the beginning of a sentence or as an adverb before the verb.

Càng ngày	giá cả	càng	tăng
The more time passes	price	more	increase

The more time passes, the higher the price rises.

Bạch Tuyết	càng ngày	càng	xinh đẹp
Snow White	the more time passes	more	beautiful

The more time passes, the more beautiful Snow White becomes.

“Ngày càng” is similar, but it means “increasingly.” It can be placed at the beginning of a sentence or before the verb. It is more formal and used more in written Vietnamese.

Học sinh	ngày càng	ít	coi trọng	việc	viết	chữ	đẹp
Students	increasingly	little	have regard for	job/business	write	handwriting	nice

Students have increasingly little regard for (the business of) nice handwriting. (They don’t think much about having nice, legible handwriting)

No wonder pigs fly!

The closest the Vietnamese has to the English “if pigs fly” to expression disbelief is “thảo nào trời mưa” (no wonder it rains). To say “no wonder” in Vietnamese, you can use “thảo nào.” Its usage is the same as “no wonder” in English: put thảo nào at the beginning of a sentence.

Họ	không phải là	người	Việt.	Thảo nào	họ	không	biết	tiếng Việt
They	are not	people	Viet	No wonder	they	do not	know	Vietnamese

They’re not Vietnamese. No wonder they don’t speak Vietnamese.

Nó	ăn	quá nhiều	kẹo	thảo nào	nó	hay	bị	sâu	răng
He	eat	way too much	sweets	No wonder	he	often	gets	worm	teeth

He eats way too much sweets. No wonder he often has cavity.

Sân bay	ở	Pháp	đang	đình công.	Thảo nào	chuyến bay	đến	Paris	bị	hoãn
Airport	in	France	currently	on strike	No wonder	the flight	to	Paris	gets	postponed

Airports in France are on strike. No wonder the flight to Paris gets postponed.

In Vietnamese, Thảo nào + a strange weather event (rain/storm/blizzard) is used to express incredulity when someone does something (nice) that he/she normally doesn’t do.

Hôm nay	chị ấy	vào	bếp	nấu	ăn.	Thảo nào	trời	mưa	to
Today	she	come into	the kitchen	cook	eat	No wonder	it	rains	big

Today she comes into the kitchen and cook. No wonder (why) it’s raining heavily! (the rarity of her cooking causes it to rain :))

Is sầu riêng your favorite fruit?

I know that sầu riêng is banned on the train in Singapore. Take a look through these picture dictionary and find what I’m talking about. If you cannot see the images, please click here.

Did you figure out what sầu riêng is? It’s a rather bizarre fruit that can evoke some pretty strong emotions. Some people love it, while others throw up in its presence. The word appears in the last image, right above these lines 🙂

Which camp do you belong to? Lovers or haters? Or innocent neutral caught in the crossfire? Sầu riêng does make one mean throwing weapon.

Other note:

To say the name of a fruit in Vietnamese, you use a classfier quả (Northern) or trái (Southern) + the name of the fruit. Example: quả mận, trái măng cụt, etc.

The first 3 pages include fruits that are common. The last 2 pages include fruits that are common in Vietnam. You can download the PDF version below:

Page 1 – citrus – strawberry – watermelon – apple – grapes

Page 2 – peach – plum – apricot – persimmon – pear – mango

Page 3 – avocado – pomegranate – passion fruit – guava – sugar apple / sweetsop – sapodilla

Page 4 – pineapple – coconut – jackfruit – starfruit – longan – rambutan – lychee

Page 5 – papaya – dragon fruit – durian – mangosteen – Buddha’s fist – milk fruit

48 – Unless in Vietnamese – trừ khi

To say “unless” in Vietnamese, you can use trừ khi or trừ phi. The usage is the same as “unless” in English.

Lan	không bao giờ	đi làm	muộn	trừ khi	nhà	có	việc đột xuất
Lan	never	go to work	late	unless	family	has	emergency

Lan never goes to work late unless her family has an emergency

Chúng ta	sẽ	đi	xe đạp	trừ khi	có	ai	phản đối
We	will	go	bike	unless	there is	someone	oppose

We will go by bike unless (there is) someone (who) disagrees

Tớ	sẽ	không	kể	chuyện	này	cho	ai	trừ khi	cậu	cho	phép
I	will	not	tell	story	this	to	anyone	unless	you	give	permission

I won’t tell anyone this unless you allow me to.

Viet Family Extended Edition 201

I swear this is the last post on family! 99.99% percent of my readers should have 100.000% of all family vocabulary by now. The remaining 0.01% has to be doing genealogy research to need to know more family terms.

If you need to search for just 1 word and don’t want to read through everything, press Ctrl + F on PC (or Apple + F on Mac), it should bring up the Search box in your Internet browser, type in the word, and it should be there. If I didn’t cover it, there is always the online Viet dictionary Vdict.com

The oldest child: con cả, con trưởng (in the North), or anh Hai / chị Hai (in the South)

The youngest child: con út

The middle kids: con thứ

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Biological family: add đẻ or ruột

Biological parents: bố mẹ đẻ, cha mẹ ruột, etc.

Biological siblings: anh ruột (older brothers), chị ruột (older sister), em ruột (younger siblings), etc.

—————————–

Godfather: cha đỡ đầu

Godmother: mẹ đỡ đầu

Godchild: con đỡ đầu

—————————–

Adopted family member: add the word nuôi.

Adopted children: con nuôi

Adopted parents: bố mẹ nuôi, cha mẹ nuôi, etc.

—————————–

Stepfather: cha dượng

Stepmother: mẹ kế (if it’s Cinderella’s evil stepmother, it’s dì ghẻ :))

Children of someone from that person’s previous marriage: con riêng (con means children, riêng means private). Example: con riêng của cô Hà means Ms. Hà’s children from her previous marriage.

Children out of wedlock: con ngoài giá thú (which has a derogatory meaning in Vietnam since sex before marriage and such are condemned, yes, condemned, not just frowned upon)

Step brothers & sisters, from the same father: anh, chị, em + cùng cha khác mẹ (same dad, different mom)

Step brothers & sisters, from the same mother: anh, chị, em + cùng mẹ khác cha (same mom, different dad)

(Just in case) Step brothers & sisters, no blood relationship: use the usual anh, chị, em and you’ll have to explain that they’re not blood-related (không có họ với nhau)

—————————–

Side note: Family and marriage in Vietnam are similar to those in Southeast Asia (China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan). It is a big deal since the majority of people marry once and live with that partner for life, for better or for worse (and since it’s a one-in-a-lifetime event, people spend a lot of money on weddings, banquets, receptions, etc). Divorce is not common. Divorcees and their children face judgment from other people and society in general. Parents often stay married for their children and/or to save face even though the union is unhappy… and I feel pretty pessimistic after living in America and getting bombarded by the American media and their through-the-roof divorce rate.

47 – Not only… but also… – Không những… mà còn…

In Vietnamese, to say “Not only… but also…” you can use “Không những… mà còn… nữa”
Subject + không những + verb / adjective 1 + mà còn + verb / adjective 2 (+ nữa)

Con	chó	không những	thông minh	mà còn	thân thiện	nữa
(classifier)	dog	not only	intelligent	but also	friendly	(as well)

Dogs are not only intelligent but also friendly.

Mùa hè	năm	nay	không những	nóng	mà còn	ẩm	nữa
Summer	year	this	not only	hot	but also	humid	(as well)

This summer is not only hot but also humid.

Bà ta	không những	nói	to	mà còn	nói	nhiều	nữa
She	not only	talk	loudly	but also	talk	a lot	(as well)

She doesn’t only talk loudly, but also talks a lot (as well).

Đi	du lịch	vào	dịp	Giáng sinh	không những	đắt	mà còn	đông	nữa
Go	travel	at	period	Christmas	not only	expensive	but also	crowded	(as well)

Travelling around Christmas time is not only expensive but also crowded (as well).

Không những + subject + verb / adjective 1 + mà còn + verb / adjective 2 (+ nữa)

Không những	anh ấy	hát	hay	mà còn	chơi	thể thao	giỏi	nữa
Not only	he	sing	well	but also	play	sports	well

Not only he sings well but he also plays sports well.