Vietnamese grammar
Vietnamese is an analytic language, meaning it conveys relationship between words primarily through "helper words" as opposed to inflection. The basic word order is subject-verb-object (SVO), but sentences may be restructured so as to be topic-prominent. Vietnamese is otherwise largely head-initial, has a noun classifier system, is pro-drop (and pro copula-drop), wh-in-situ, and allows verb serialization. Lexical categories. Vietnamese lexical categories (or "parts of speech") consist of: The syntax of each lexical category and its associated phrase (i.e., the syntactic constituents below the sentence level) is detailed below. Attention is  paid to both form and function. Nouns and noun phrases. Nouns can be distinguished from verbs syntactically in that the copula "là" "to be" is required to precede nouns in predications whereas the copula is not required before verbs/adjectives. In the sentence above, the noun "sinh viên" "student" must co-occur with the copula. Omitting the copula, as in *"Mai sinh viên" results in an ungrammatical sentence. In contrast, verbs/adjectives do not co-occur with the copula. The adjective "cao" (as in the sentence above) does not require a preceding copula, and thus the sentence *"Mai là cao  is ill-formed. The noun category can be further subdivided into different noun classes according to semantic and syntactic criteria. Some of the subclasses identified in Nguyễn (1997) include: Nouns can be modified with other words resulting in complex noun phrases. These modifiers include demonstratives, quantifiers, classifiers, prepositional phrases, and other attributive lexical words, such as other nouns and verbs. These modifiers co-occur with the modified noun (known as the head noun or noun phrase head), but there are restrictions on what kind of modifiers are allowed depending upon the subclass of noun. The noun phrase has the following 	Vietnamese grammar
14184658	structure: Example: Article position. Following Nguyễn Hùng Tưởng (2004) and Nguyễn T. C. (1975), Vietnamese has an article lexical category slot that occurs before a quantifier. Quantifier position. Quantifiers (also known as numerators) are words that can occur within a noun phrase before a head noun (with or without a classifier). Quantifiers include cardinal numerals, and other words which indicate some quantity. (Cardinal numerals are described in the numeral section.) Examples of quantifiers: Quantifiers directly precede the head noun that they modify when that head noun is of a noun type that does not require an obligatory classifier: how many 	Vietnamese grammar
14184659	= bao nhiêu When a classifier co-occurs with a following head noun, the quantifier word precedes the classifier: Mass (such as, thịt" "meat", "đất" "earth, soil") and collective nouns (such as, "trâu bò" "cattle", "ruộng nương" "(rice) fields") cannot be directly modified with a quantifier. For example, the following are ungrammatical noun phrases: However, mass nouns can be preceded by a unit noun (such as "cân" "kilogram", "lạng" "tael", "nắm" "handful", "chén" "cupful") that indicates a measurement of the mass noun, which can, then, be modified with a quantifier. For example, the ungrammatical "*ba thịt" "three meats" and  *một con thịt "one meat" (above) can be rendered as grammatical phrases with unit nouns present: Focus marker position. The optional particle "cái" is identified as a focus marker by Nguyễn Hùng Tưởng (2004). It has been called by several other names, including "general classifier", "general categorical", 'extra" cái", ""extra" general classifier", "definite article", "superarticle", "definite word", "demonstrative word", and "chỉ xuất" "indexical". Focus "cái" occurs directly before classifiers or unit nouns and may be preceded by other pre-noun modifiers such as quantifiers, numerals, and articles. It must always co-occur with a classifier. As can be seen by  descriptions of focus "cái" as "general classifier", etc., this particle has often been analyzed as a classifier. However, it can be distinguished by its different behavior. Focus "cái" always precedes a following classifier and may not directly precede the head noun. The noun phrase is grammatical, but the phrase is not grammatical. More than one classifier is not allowed within the same noun phrase, whereas focus "cái" does occur along with a following classifier (as can be seen above). Examples of other modifiers preceding the focus marker are below: Again, "cái" must follow the other pre-noun modifiers, so phrases  where "cái" precedes a numeral or article (such as "*cái hai chó đen này" or "*cái các con mèo này") are ungrammatical. The focus marker "cái" is distinct from the classifier "cái" that classifies inanimate nouns (although it is historically related to the classifier "cái"). Thus, classifier "cái" cannot modify the noun "chó" "dog" (in "cái chó") since "chó" is animate (the non-human animate classifier "con" must be used: "con chó"), whereas focus "cái" can modify nouns of any animacy (with their appropriate classifier): Functionally, "cái" indicates grammatically that an element within a noun phrase is in contrastive  focus. It has been noted by Nguyễn Đ. H. (1997) (and others) that "cái" adds a pejorative connotation, as in: However, Nguyễn Hùng Tưởng (2004) claims that the connotation is not always negative and gives the following positive example: Phonologically, the focus "cái" receives an intonational stress, and, in addition, the element receiving the focus also receives an intonational stress. In the following examples, the stressed words are indicated with capital letters (also underlined): In the above sentence, the item in focus is "đen" "black", which receives the stress (as does "cái"). Here, it is the feature of the horse 's blackness that is being focused on (or singled out) in contrast to other horses that do not have the feature of blackness. In the sentence below, "ngựa" "horse" receives the focus and stress. The focus marker is always stressed and must co-occur with another stressed item; thus, "cái" cannot occur without another stressed element within the noun phrase. Focus "cái" may focus a variety of noun phrase elements including prepositional phrases, relative clauses, constituents inside of relative clause modifiers, the head noun (by itself), the head noun plus preceding classifier, and adjectival verbs. Classifier position. Vietnamese uses  a rich set of classifiers and measure words (often considered a subset of the classifiers) to introduce or stand in for count and mass nouns, respectively. This feature of Vietnamese is similar to the system of classifiers in Chinese. The most common classifiers typically do not translate to English: ' introduces most inanimate objects, while ' generally introduces animate objects, especially animals. In the following dialogue, the classifier "" initially introduces "chicken": Nouns may require the animate classifier even if they do not refer to living organisms. For instance, ' (knife), ' (road), ' (eye), ' (river), and ' (screw) all take the ' classifier to convey motion. More  specific classifiers typically indicate the shape of objects, such as ' for round objects like balls or pieces of fruit, or ' for flat, rectangular objects like signage or panes of glass. These classifiers may be superficially likened to English partitive constructions like "one head of cattle" ("head", always singular regardless of number, indicates large livestock), "two sticks of dynamite" ("stick" indicates something relatively rigid, long and comparatively thin), "three strands of hair" ("strand" indicates something flexible, long and quite thin), or "four bars of gold" (a "bar" being similar to a "stick", but comparatively less "thin"). Some nominalizing classifiers introduce verbs  or adjectives instead of nouns. Some linguists count as many as 200 classifiers in Vietnamese, though only a few are used in conversation or informal writing. Thompson (1987) notes that usage of " for inanimate objects has increased at the expense of some of the rarer classifiers. Among the most common classifiers are: Classifiers are required in the presence of a quantifier, except for "non-classified nouns": "time units" such as ' (minute), geographical and administrative units such as ' (province), and polysyllabic Sino-Vietnamese compound nouns. The classifier ' has a special role in that it can introduce any other classifier, e.g. ', ', but  Nguyễn Hùng Tường (2013) considers this to be a non-classifier use of '. Attributive modifier position. includes noun phrase modifiers, verb phrase modifiers Demonstrative position. Nouns may be modified by certain demonstratives that follow the noun (see also demonstrative section below). These demonstratives include: "này" "this", "nầy" "this", "nay" "this", "ni" "this", "đó" "that", "nấy" "that", "ấy" "that", "nãy" "that", "kia" "that yonder", "nọ" "that yonder", "kìa" "that yonder (far)", "nào" "which". Examples: Prepositional phrase position. Possession is shown in Vietnamese via a prepositional phrase that modifies the next word, a noun. Any words after that are subsequent to that  are, essentially, articles or demonstratives that bring up qualifying clauses. Reference, specificity, definiteness. Vietnamese nouns that stand alone are unmarked for number and definiteness. Thus, a noun, such as "sách", may be glossed in English as "a book" (singular, indefinite), "the book" (singular, definite), "some books" (plural, indefinite), or "the books" (plural, definite). It is with the addition of classifiers, demonstratives, and other modifiers that the number and definiteness can be specified. Pronouns. Vietnamese pronouns act as substitutions for noun phrases. Thus, the third person singular (arrogant) pronoun "nó" can substitute for a simple noun phrase "Hoan" (a personal name ) consisting of a single noun or a complex noun phrase "con chó này" consisting of a noun plus modifiers (which, here, are a classifier and a demonstrative). Note that the pronominal system as a whole also includes kinship terms (see kinship term section below) and certain demonstratives (see demonstrative section below), which can also have a pronominal function. The pronouns are categorized into two classes depending on whether they can be preceded by the plural marker "chúng". Like other Asian pronominal systems, Vietnamese pronouns indicate the social status between speakers and other persons in the discourse in addition to grammatical  person and number. The table below shows the first class of pronouns that can be preceded by pluralizer. The first person "tôi" is the only pronoun that can be used in polite speech. The second person "ta" is often used when talking to oneself as in a soliloquy, but also indicates a higher status of the speaker (such as that of a high official, etc.). The other superior-to-inferior forms in the first and second persons ("tao", "mày", "mi", "bay") are commonly used in familiar social contexts, such as among family members (e.g. older sister to younger sister, etc .); these forms are otherwise considered impolite. The third person form "nó" (used to refer to inanimates, animals, children, and scorned adults, such as criminals) is considerably less arrogant than the second person forms "tao", "mày", "mi", "bay". The pronoun "mình" is used only in intimate relationships, such as between husband and wife. The pronominal forms in the table above can be modified with plural "chúng" as in "chúng mày" "you (guys)", "chúng nó" "them". There is an exclusive/inclusive plural distinction in the first person: "chúng tôi" and "chúng tao" are exclusive (i.e., me and them but not you), "chúng  ta" and "chúng mình" are inclusive (i.e., you and me). Some of the forms ("ta", "mình", "bay") can be used to refer to a plural referent, resulting in pairs with overlapping reference (e.g., both "ta" and "chúng ta" can mean "inclusive we", both "bay" and "chúng bay" can mean "you guys"). The other class of pronouns are known as "absolute" pronouns (Thompson 1965). These cannot be modified with the pluralizer "chúng". Many of these forms are literary and archaic, particularly in the first and second person. Unlike third person pronouns of the first type, these absolute third person forms  ("y", "hắn", "va") refer only to animate referents (typically people). The form "y" can be preceded by the pluralizer in southern dialects in which case it is more respectful than "nó". The absolute pronoun "người ta" has a wider range of reference as "they, people in general, (generic) one, we, someone". As a result of language contact, some linguists have noted that some Vietnamese speech communities (especially among young college students and bilingual speakers) have borrowed French and English pronouns "moi", "toi", "I", and "you" in order to avoid the deference and status implications present in the Vietnamese pronominal system  (which lacks any truly neutral terms). Kinship terms. Kinship terms in Vietnamese have become grammaticalized to a large extent and thus have developed grammatical functions similar to pronouns and other classifiers. In these cases, they are used as honorifics or pejoratives. Kinship terms may also, of course, be used with a lexical meaning like other nouns. Pronominal function. When used with a pronominal function, kinship terms primarily indicate the social status between referents in a discourse, such as between the speaker and the hearer, between speaker and another referent, etc. Included within the notion of social status are classifications of  age, sex, relative social position, and the speaker's attitude. For example, to say "I love you" in Vietnamese, one can use one of many translations: The most common terms of reference are kinship terms, which might differ slightly in different regions. When addressing an audience, the speaker must carefully assess the social relationship between him/her and the audience, difference in age, and sex of the audience to choose an appropriate form of address. The following are some kinship terms of address that can be used in the second-person sense ("you"). They all can also be used in  the first-person sense ("I"), but if they're not marked by (S) the usage is limited to the literal meaning: Using a person's name to refer to oneself or to address another is considered more personal and informal than using pronouns. It can be found among close friends or children. Demonstratives. Vietnamese demonstratives (markers of deixis) all have the function of identifying a referent with respect to another contextual point or position. For example, the demonstrative "này" "this" as in the noun phrase "người này" "this person" indicates that the person referred to is relatively close to the  speaker (in a context where this noun phrase is uttered by a speaker to an addressee) while the demonstrative "đó" "that" as in the noun phrase "người đó" "that person" indicates that the person referred to is further from the speaker. The demonstratives have a basic three-term deictic system — proximal (close - "this, here"), medial (far - "that, there"), distal (very far - "yonder, over there") — plus an indefinite (or interrogative) term ("which, where"). In addition to their deictic function, different Vietnamese demonstratives can function variously as noun modifiers, as noun phrases (i.e., a (pro-) nominal function), or as adverbials. The form  này tends to be used in Northern Vietnamese while "nầy" is the Southern form and "ni" is the North-central and Central form. In North-central and Central Vietnamese, the form "nớ" is used instead of "nọ", "mô" instead of "nào" and "đâu", "rứa" instead of "vậy", and "răng" instead of "sao". In Hanoi, the form "thế" or "như thế" "(like) so, (like) this way" is used instead of "vầy". Other forms mentioned in Thompson (1965) are "nay" "this", "nây" "this (temporal)", "nãy" or "nẫy" "that (just past)", and "nao" "which". The basic formal pattern of the demonstratives is that  the initial consonant and ending vowel nucleus indicate their function and position in the deictic system. Some linguists have analyzed demonstratives as consisting of two (sub-syllabic) morphemes. Following this, the initial "đ-" indicates a nominal, "n-" a noun modifier, "b-" proportion, "v-~s-" manner, and the vowels "-ây"~"-ay" proximal/medial, "-âu"~"-ao" indefinite, and "-o" medial/distal. However, the form "kia" is analyzed as consisting of only one morpheme. Overlaid on these elements are tones, which indicate contrastive distances increasingly further from the contextual position: "ngang" tone (closest), "huyền" tone (further), "sắc" or "nặng" tone (even further). Thus, "đấy" is more  remote than "đây", "kìa" more remote than "kia", "vậy" more remote than "vầy". There is an idiomatic expression where demonstratives with an even increasing distance modify the noun "ngày" "day(time)": Syntactically, the demonstratives "đó" and "kia" may function as either nouns or as noun modifiers: The nominals "đây", "đấy", and "đâu" are only used as nouns typically denoting a space or time and cannot function as noun modifiers. Although they usually refer to position situated in time/space, the nominal deictics can be used to metaphorically refer to people, as in: In the sentence above (which would translate more  literally as "This is going to the market, is that going or not?"), proximal "đây" is used to refer (metaphorically) to the speaker (as "I") while medial "đấy" is used to refer to the addressee (as "you"). The demonstrative noun modifiers "này", "(n)ấy", "nọ", and "nào" can only modify nouns and cannot stand alone as nouns. When referring to time, the distal demonstratives "kia" and "nọ" differ in directionality. "Kia" specifies a point remote either in the past or the future while "nọ" specifies only a remote point in the past: The proportion demonstratives ("bây", "bấy", "bao") refer to  the extent of measurement of time or space. They precede the words they modify, such as "giờ" "time", "nhiêu" "(to have) much/many", "lâu" "(to be) long, (take a) long time": Numerals. Numerals (or numbers) consist of two types: cardinal numerals and ordinal numerals. When occurring in noun phrases, cardinal and ordinal numerals occur in different syntactic positions with respect to the head noun. The article below only shows the native Vietnamese numerals, remember that Sino-Vietnamese numerals will be used in certain cases. Cardinal. Vietnamese numerals are a decimal system. "Zero" lacks a dedicated numeral with "số không" "empty  number" (