Demonstratives: 'đây', 'đó', 'kia' — Southern Vietnamese Grammar

Vietnamese has three demonstratives that distinguish distance from the speaker:

— this / here (close to speaker)
— that / there (moderate distance)
— that over there (far away)

As Pronouns

At the start of a sentence, they work as standalone pronouns meaning "this is" or "that is":

Đây là nhà của tôi.
This is my house.
Đó là gì?
What is that?
Kia là ai?
Who is that over there?

As Determiners

After a noun (or classifier + noun), they point to a specific item. This is the reverse of English word order:

Người đàn ông đó đang chạy bộ.
That man is jogging.
Cuốn sách này rất hay.
This book is very good.
Cái ghế kia là của ai?
Whose is that chair over there?

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Southern Vietnamese course

60 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 2. A few of them, with the words “Demonstratives: 'đây', 'đó', 'kia'” is about in bold:

Đây là bạn của mình, Anna. Cô ấy là sinh viên.
This is my friend, Anna. She is a student.
Lesson 2
Nước này lạnh. Nước đó nóng.
This water is cold. That water is hot.
Lesson 68
Ồ, em biết nước Pháp. Em đã từng đến nước Pháp trước đây.
Oh, I know France. I have been to France before.
Lesson 208

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