Personal Pronouns

01

The Kinship System (I and You)

In a conversation, the word for I and you changes depending on who is speaking to whom. If you refer to the listener as "older brother," you must refer to yourself as "younger sibling."

• anh: Used for a man slightly older than you. It means older brother.
• chị: Used for a woman slightly older than you. It means older sister.
• em: Used for anyone slightly younger than you, regardless of gender. It means younger sibling.

• Em chào anh.

  Hello (younger person to older male).

• Anh đi đâu?

  Where are you going? (younger person asking older male).

• Chị uống cà phê không?

  Do you drink coffee? (asking older female).

For people significantly older (generation of your parents or grandparents), different terms are used to show respect:

• chú: Used for a man the age of your father (literally paternal uncle).
• cô: Used for a woman the age of your father (literally paternal aunt).
• con: When speaking to a chú or cô, you refer to yourself as con (literally child).

• Con cảm ơn chú.

  I thank you (younger person to older man).

• Cô khỏe không?

  How are you? (asking older woman).

02

Neutral and Social Pronouns

While kinship terms are the most common, there are neutral pronouns used when age is unclear, in formal settings, or between friends.

• tôi: The standard word for I. It is formal and polite. In the Southern dialect, this is often pronounced and sometimes informally written as tui in casual contexts.
• bạn: Means friend, but is used as you for people of the same age or strangers when you want to be polite but keep a distance.
• mình: Literally means body or self. It is used as an intimate I between couples or close friends. It is also used to express myself, yourself, etc.

• Tôi là sinh viên.

  I am a student.

• Bạn tên là gì?

  What is your name?

• Tôi nhìn thấy mình trong gương.

  I see myself in the mirror.

03

Third Person (He and She)

To talk about a third person (he or she), you generally take the kinship term that matches their age/gender and add the suffix ấy (meaning that).

• anh ấy: He (literally that older brother).
• chị ấy: She (literally that older sister).
• cô ấy: She (literally that aunt/young lady).

• Cô ấy đang ngủ.

  She is sleeping.

• Anh ấy làm việc ở đây.

  He works here.

Southern Dialect Contractions

In the Southern dialect (Saigon), speakers frequently contract the third person pronouns by changing the tone of the kinship term to a "hỏi" (hook) tone or "ngã" (tilde) tone, dropping the word ấy entirely. This is extremely common in spoken language.

• anh ấy becomes ảnh (he).
• chị ấy becomes chỉ (she).
• cô ấy becomes cổ (she).
• ông ấy becomes ổng (he/that man).
• bà ấy becomes bả (she/that woman).

• Ảnh đi chợ rồi.

  He went to the market already.

• Cổ đẹp quá.

  She is very beautiful.

• Chỉ không thích ăn cay.

  She does not like eating spicy food.

04

Plural Pronouns (We, You, They)

To make pronouns plural, Vietnamese uses specific particles before the pronoun.

1. The Plural Particle "Các"

Adding các before a kinship term or pronoun makes it a plural you.

• các bạn: You guys / You all (friends).
• các anh: You guys (group of older males).

• Chào các bạn.

  Hello everyone/friends.

• Các anh muốn uống gì?

  What do you (guys) want to drink?

2. "We" (Inclusive vs. Exclusive)

Vietnamese distinguishes between "we" that includes the listener and "we" that excludes the listener.

• chúng tôi: We (speaker + others, but NOT the listener).
• chúng ta: We (speaker + listener + everyone else).

• Chúng tôi đi đây.

  We are leaving (and you are staying).

• Chúng ta cùng đi nhé.

  Let's go together (we all go).

3. They

The standard word for they is họ. You can also use các + [kinship term] + ấy to refer to a specific group of people mentioned previously.

• Họ là người Việt Nam.

  They are Vietnamese.

• Các anh ấy đang đá banh.

  They (those guys) are playing football.