# Ạ: respectful ending in Vietnamese (A1)

> Ạ at the end of a sentence adds respect and nothing else. Use it with someone older or senior to you: a teacher, a friend's parents, an older neighbour.

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/a-polite/ · Updated 2026-11-10

**(respectful ending)**

Pattern: `[sentence] + ạ · Dạ, … ạ`

Level: A1 (our estimate) · Register: polite · Medium: spoken

Typed without accents: a

Situations: [At work](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/?use=work) · [Shops and services](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/?use=service)

*Ạ* at the end of a sentence adds respect and nothing else. Use it with someone older or senior to you: a teacher, a friend's parents, an older neighbour. *Em cảm ơn chị ạ* is a more respectful "thank you" than *Em cảm ơn chị*.

It goes last, after the address word: *Con chào cô ạ.* It also makes a question more polite: *Chị ơi, cái này bao nhiêu tiền ạ?* The meaning stays the same with or without it.

In Saigon, polite speech rests mostly on *dạ* at the start and the address word at the end: *Dạ, cảm ơn chị.* *Ạ* is common too, especially from children to adults and in careful speech, often together with *dạ*: *Dạ, em hiểu rồi ạ.* In Hà Nội you'll hear *ạ* much more often, as in *Vâng ạ*.

Don't use *ạ* with friends or with anyone younger; it sounds stiff, or as if you're teasing. Service is the exception: staff in shops and cafés often use it with customers of any age. And keep it apart from *à*, with the falling tone, which checks something you've just heard: *Chị về rồi à?* You're back? *Ạ*, with the dot below, doesn't make a question by itself, but to someone older the same check often ends in *ạ* instead: *Chị về rồi ạ?*

## A common mistake

✗ Con chào cô à.

✓ Con chào cô ạ.

*À*, with the falling tone, is the word for checking or questioning. The respectful ending is *ạ*, written with the dot below the a.

## Examples

- Saigon: Con chào cô ạ. | Hà Nội: Cháu chào cô ạ. — Hello. (to a woman your parents' age)
- Em cảm ơn chị ạ. — Thank you. (to an older woman)
- Dạ, em hiểu rồi ạ. — Yes, I understand now. (to someone older)
- Chị ơi, cái này bao nhiêu tiền ạ? — Excuse me, how much is this? (to an older woman)
- Dạ, anh uống gì ạ? — What would you like to drink? (a waiter to a customer)

## Words in this pattern

- [ạ](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/a-polite/#lx_a_polite): polite ending

## Compare

- [Double-checking what you just heard: hả / à](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/a-ha-check/): …, huh? / so …?
- [Polite yes dạ / vâng, casual yes ừ](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/da-vang-yes/): yes (polite or casual)
- [Oh, by the way: À, … at the start](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/a-initial-oh/): oh (remembering)

Previous in Words at the start and end of a sentence: [Of course! … chứ](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/chu-of-course/)
Next in Words at the start and end of a sentence: [Respectful address: thưa + title](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/thua-respectful/)

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