cái gì vậy?
[kaːj˧˦ zi˨˩ vəj˧˨ʔ]word by word
The English phrase "what is it?" is translated into Vietnamese as cái gì vậy?
cái gì vậy? is a standard way to ask for the identity or nature of an object or a situation.
What does it mean word for word?
The word gì means "what".
Which one should you use?
Đó là cái gì? translates to "What is that?" Additionally, Nó là gì vậy? can be used among friends or in casual conversations to ask "What is it?"
How does it change in a sentence?
If you remove vậy from the end, you are left with cái gì?, which is a more direct and blunt way to ask "what?"
Did you know?
- Historically, cái could mean 'great' or 'main', as seen in the ancient title Bố Cái Đại Vương meaning 'Great King'.
- In Central Vietnamese dialects, people often use the word chi instead of gì to mean 'what'.
- The word cái in cái gì vậy? is a classifier, a type of word used to categorize nouns that does not exist in English grammar.
Examples in context
- Cái gì vậy?What is it?
- Trong túi có cái gì vậy?What is in the bag?
- Tiếng động đó là cái gì vậy?What is that noise?
Example conversation
Nam and Chi are looking at a strange gift box on the table.
- NamChi ơi, cái gì vậy?Chi, what is it?
- ChiQuà sinh nhật của anh đó.It's your birthday gift.
- NamThật sao? Cảm ơn em.Really? Thank you.
- ChiKhông có gì đâu anh Nam.You're welcome, Nam.
