Are you in the middle of learning Vietnamese, and you’ve started coming across prepositions? Are you confused about how to use them, as well as pronounce them? Well, you’re in luck because we’re here to clarify what prepositions are and how to learn Vietnamese prepositions in the easiest, most effective way!
To get you started, we’ll review some of the simplest Vietnamese prepositions, along with example sentences. That way, you have an idea of how these prepositions are used daily. Hãy bắt đầu học (“Let’s start learning” in Vietnamese)!
What Is A Preposition?
Prepositions are words or phrases that typically come before a noun or pronoun to express how one thing relates to another. Remember that it’s important to use prepositions correctly; otherwise, you might be misunderstood. If you’re still confused, refer to the example below.
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Download now!Example Sentence: “The book is on the table.”
In this case, the first noun is “book,” the second noun is “table,” and the connecting word showing the relationship between the two nouns is the prepositional word “on.” In other words, the word “on” tells us how the book relates/is in relation to the table.
Simple Vietnamese Prepositions To Learn ASAP
Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced Vietnamese learner, you should start learning or refresh your memory of Vietnamese prepositions. Now, you might be asking, “Which Vietnamese preposition should I learn first?” To make it easy for you, we’ve created a quick list for you to learn from! This list includes the English preposition and Vietnamese equivalent.
| English | Vietnamese | Pronunciation |
| about | về | |
| above | trên đây | |
| across | ngang qua | |
| after | sau khi | |
| against | chống lại | |
| among | trong số | |
| around | xung quanh | |
| as | như | |
| at | tại | |
| before | trước khi | |
| behind | sau | |
| below | phía dưới | |
| beneath | bên dưới | |
| beside | bên cạnh | |
| between | giữa | |
| beyond | ngoài | |
| by | bởi | |
| from | từ | |
| in | trong | |
| inside | bên trong | |
| into | vào trong | |
| near | gần | |
| next | tiếp theo | |
| of | của | |
| on | trên | |
| opposite | đối diện | |
| out | ra | |
| outside | bên ngoài | |
| over | trên | |
| that | cái đó | |
| this | đây | |
| through | thông qua | |
| to | đến | |
| toward | về phía | |
| under | dưới | |
| within | ở trong |
There you have it. Now you know basic Vietnamese prepositions!
Vietnamese Prepositional Phrases
Of course, it’s not enough to only know individual prepositions. You must also learn how to use those prepositions in a complete sentence! For example, in English, if someone asks you, “Where is my book?” and you answer, “Under,” they will be utterly confused. In this situation, you need to specify a location after using the preposition.
While we can’t anticipate the prepositional sentence you might need in the future, we can give you some example prepositional phrases! Even if you don’t end up using these, it’s still good practice to help you become more familiar with the Vietnamese sentence structure.
| English | Vietnamese | Pronunciation |
| He is sitting on a chair. | anh ấy đang ngồi trên ghế | |
| The people in the apartment above me are so loud. | những người ở căn hộ phía trên tôi ồn ào quá | |
| My car is parked between a red truck and a white SUV. | xe của tôi đang đậu giữa một chiếc xe tải màu đỏ và một chiếc xe SUV màu trắng | |
| There is some water in the fridge. | có một ít nước trong tủ lạnh | |
| My school is located beside the temple. | trường tôi nằm bên cạnh chùa | |
| The dog was hiding under the table. | con chó đã trốn dưới gầm bàn | |
| We drove over the bridge. | chúng tôi lái xe qua cầu | |
| She lost her phone at the beach. | cô ấy bị mất điện thoại ở bãi biển | |
| We met inside the restaurant. | chúng tôi gặp nhau bên trong nhà hàng | |
| They are standing by the tree. | họ đang đứng bên cây | |
| The loud noise came from within that apartment. | tiếng ồn lớn phát ra từ trong căn hộ đó | |
| The restaurant is near the bus stop. | nhà hàng gần bến xe buýt | |
| You should check behind the couch. | bạn nên kiểm tra phía sau đi văng | |
| I am waiting for you outside the mall. | tôi đang đợi bạn bên ngoài trung tâm mua sắm | |
| My school is opposite the park. | trường tôi đối diện công viên |
Now you’ve learned how to use Vietnamese prepositions in a sentence!
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