Tiếng Việt Tuesday - the verbs "to want," "to need," and "to like."

Today's Tiếng Việt lesson introduces three common verbs that allow us to play with the basic subject->verb->object sentence structure.


muốn = to want
cần = to need
thích = to like

 I like these verbs because they are useful for studying nouns. One of the problems with learning a new language is that to practice verbs you need nouns, and to practice nouns you need verbs. So I start with a coupe of serviceable verbs, and then when I've built up a vocabulary of nouns, I can expand.

So let's do a few.

Tôi muốn sữa = I want milk.
Tôi muốn gà = I want chicken.
Tôi muốn ghế = I want the chair.
Tôi muốn bút = I want the pen.
Tôi muốn trà = I want tea.

Tôi cần chuối = I need the banana.
Tôi cần xe buýt = I need the bus.
Tôi cần chìa khóa = I need the key.
Tôi cần nước = I need water.

Tôi thích mèo = I like cats.
Tôi thích xe hơi = I like cars.
Tôi thích trái cây = I like fruits.
Tôi thích cà phê = I like coffee.
Tôi thích những người = I like people.

If you keep doing this exercise, the nouns won't all stick in your memory, but the verbs hopefully will. Repetition is key.