# X long, X tall, X heavy in Vietnamese (B1)

> To give a size or a weight, put the adjective straight after the thing, then the number and the unit: Cái bàn này dài hai mét.

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/adj-measure/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**measurements**

Pattern: `[thing] + dài / cao / nặng / rộng + [number] + [unit]`

Level: B1 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

To give a size or a weight, put the adjective straight after the thing, then the number and the unit: *Cái bàn này dài hai mét.* This table is two metres long. English puts the adjective last ("two metres long"); Vietnamese puts it first, and there's no word for "is".

The common ones are *dài* (long), *cao* (tall, high), *nặng* (heavy), *rộng* (wide, or big for a room) and *sâu* (deep). For your height, say the metres and then the centimetres: *Em cao một mét sáu lăm*, I'm 1.65 m. For weight, Saigon says *ký*: *nặng năm mươi ký*, fifty kilos. In Hà Nội people also say *cân*: *năm mươi cân*.

To ask, put *bao nhiêu* (how much) where the number would go: *Cái này dài bao nhiêu?* How long is it? *Em cao bao nhiêu?* How tall are you?

Temperatures usually need no adjective at all: *Hôm nay ba mươi sáu độ.* It's 36 degrees today. *Nóng* or *lạnh* comes in only to stress an extreme: *nóng tới ba mươi tám độ*, as hot as 38 degrees.

## A common mistake

✗ Cái bàn này hai mét dài.

✓ Cái bàn này dài hai mét.

The adjective comes before the number, not after it as in English: *dài hai mét*, two metres long.

## Examples

- Cái bàn này dài hai mét. — This table is two metres long.
- Em cao bao nhiêu? — How tall are you?
- Dạ, em cao một mét sáu lăm. — I'm one metre sixty-five.
- Saigon: Con cá này nặng ba ký. | Hà Nội: Con cá này nặng ba cân. — This fish weighs three kilos.
- Phòng này rộng hai mươi mét vuông. — This room is twenty square metres.

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