Ways to say it
| Vietnamese | IPA |
|---|---|
| đắt | [ʔɗat̚˧˦] (Hà Nội, narrow) [ʔɗak̚˦˧˥] (Huế, narrow) |
| đắt tiền | [ʔɗat̚˧˦ tiən˨˩] (Hà Nội, word by word, narrow) |
| mắc | [mak̚˧˦] (Hà Nội, narrow) [mak̚˦˧˥] (Huế, narrow) |
The word is used to describe something that has a high price or cost. If you want to ask for the price of an item, you can use the phrase Bao nhiêu tiền? to mean "How much?"
What does it mean word for word?
The compound form đắt tiền is composed of đắt, meaning expensive and tiền, meaning money.
Which one should you use?
While đắt refers to a high price, the reduplicated form đắt đỏ is often used to describe a general state of high living costs or an expensive lifestyle. The form đắt hơn is used when you want to say something is "more expensive".
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Southern Vietnam, the word mắc is commonly used instead of đắt.
How does it change in a sentence?
To express that something is "too expensive", you can place the intensifier quá either before or after the adjective, resulting in quá đắt or đắt quá.
Did you know?
- In many languages, the word for 'expensive' is strictly about the cost, but in Vietnamese, the word đắt can be used in a positive way to mean 'in high demand' or 'selling well'.
- The Southern Vietnamese word for 'expensive', mắc, shares an ancient ancestor with words meaning 'to carry on one's back' in other Austroasiatic languages.
Examples in context
- Cá thì đắt đỏ.Fish is expensive.Tatoeba #13642894 by leucammieuvu, translation #2486741 by Hybrid
- Cái đó đắt quá!That is very expensive!Tatoeba #9715112 by dotheduyet1999, translation #854459 by piksea
- Thịt bò rất đắt.Beef is expensive.Tatoeba #9755593 by dotheduyet1999, translation #9192040 by CK
- Tôi muốn mua chiếc áo này, nhưng nó quá đắt.I want to buy this shirt, but it's too expensive.
- Cái này đắt hơn cái kia.This one is more expensive than that one.
- 41 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Hương and Hùng are shopping for a new phone.
- HươngChiếc điện thoại này đắt quá.This phone is too expensive.
- HùngNhưng nó có nhiều tính năng.But it has many features.
- HươngTôi không muốn mua đồ đắt.I don't want to buy expensive things.
- HùngHãy xem mẫu khác rẻ hơn.Let's look at another cheaper model.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “expensive” translations and entries đắt, mắc, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- IPA marked “word by word” joins the Wiktionary pronunciations of each word (đắt, tiền) and can differ in connected speech.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries mắc, tiền, đắt, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
