Does the vietnamese language have pronouns?

2 Comments

1. Mikhail says:

   September 4, 2010 at 7:19 pm

   Yes, but there are a few minor differences between the Vietnamese system of pronouns and how those of the Indo-European languages (I’m sorry– I’m not familiar with Korean) work.

   For instance, there are different degrees of formality involved with each pronoun. Like many Indo-European languages (for example, French vous vs. tu), have formal and informal forms of "you", Vietnamese has formal and informal forms of not only the second person singular, but all pronouns. You would not use the pronoun "tao" to refer to yourself before a judge– you would use the formal pronoun, "tôi".

   Vietnamese also as an inclusive and exclusive form of the first person plural pronoun– a feature I like quite a bit. In Vietnamese you can make apparent whether the listener is included in the notion of "we" or whether he or she does not make up the group of people [including the speaker] implied by "we".

   Vietnamese personal pronouns aren’t that different from Indo-European pronouns, all considered.
2. Sherry says:

   September 4, 2010 at 7:19 pm

   Technically no.
   And yes, it works kind of like the korean language. We use third person like instead of "oppa", we say "anh"- which means brother or older male. When we talk to our parents we refer to them as "mom" and "dad", not "you" and "me".
   Example, a sentence like: "Mom, would you like for me to prepare dinner tonight?"
   It would be said: "Me, me co’ muon’ con nau’ co^m toi’ nay khong?"
   Which literally translate to: "Mom, would mom like for daughter to prepare for dinner tonight?"
   (Daughter is the person speaking and Mom is the person listening.)

   So for example, in Korean, you would say:
   오 빠, 사랑해.

   In Vietnamese you would say:
   Anh, em ye^u anh.

   Rough English translation:
   I love you. (From female to male.)

   Literal English translation:
   Boyfriend, girlfriend loves boyfriend.

   Hope you get the confusion.