# Chỉ … thôi / chỉ / thôi: only in Vietnamese (A1)

> To say "only", put chỉ before the verb and thôi at the very end: Em chỉ uống cà phê đen thôi. I only drink black coffee.

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/chi-thoi-only/ · Updated 2026-11-09

**only**

Pattern: `[person] + chỉ + [verb] (+ [object]) + thôi`

Level: A1 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: chi … thoi, chi, thoi

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

To say "only", put *chỉ* before the verb and *thôi* at the very end: *Em chỉ uống cà phê đen thôi.* I only drink black coffee. You can also use just one of them: *Em chỉ uống cà phê đen* and *Em uống cà phê đen thôi* mean the same. With both, it sounds most natural in speech.

*Chỉ* goes before the verb, not between the verb and the thing as English "only" sometimes does. It can also stand right before a number or amount: *Chỉ hai trăm ngàn thôi.* Only two hundred thousand. *Thôi* comes at the end, where only a little word like *nha* or *ạ* can follow it, and on its own it's everywhere in shops: *Một cái thôi* (just one), *Dạ, em coi thôi* (I'm just looking).

To say that only one person does something, start with *chỉ có*: *Chỉ có anh Minh biết.* Only Minh knows.

In Saigon, *chỉ* is also the word for "she" (folded from *chị ấy*), and as the person doing something it also comes right before a verb: *Chỉ đi rồi.* She's gone. The clue is what comes before it: after another person word (*Em chỉ …*), it means "only".

*Mới* before a number also means "only", in the sense of "only so few" or "only so young": *Bé mới ba tuổi.* That's a later pattern. *Thôi!* at the start of a sentence is different again: it means "that's enough" or "never mind".

## A common mistake

✗ Tôi uống chỉ cà phê.

✓ Tôi chỉ uống cà phê thôi.

*Chỉ* goes before the verb, not between the verb and the thing. Adding *thôi* at the end makes it sound natural.

## Examples

- Em chỉ uống cà phê đen thôi. — I only drink black coffee.
- Saigon: Anh chỉ có hai trăm ngàn thôi. | Hà Nội: Anh chỉ có hai trăm nghìn thôi. — I've only got two hundred thousand.
- Saigon: Dạ, em coi thôi. | Hà Nội: Dạ, em xem thôi. — I'm just looking.
- Chỉ có anh Minh biết thôi. — Only Minh knows.

## Words in this pattern

- [chỉ](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/chi-only/#s_chi_only): only
- [thôi](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/thoi-only/#lx_thoi): only

## Compare

- [Only (so few, so young): mới + number](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/moi-only-number/): only (amount, age)
- [It only takes … to: chỉ … là …](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/chi-la/): only takes … and
- [That's enough, never mind: Thôi!](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/thoi-enough/): stop / enough

Previous in Là, có, and how verbs work together: [No preposition where English has one: chờ ai, nghe nhạc](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/direct-object-no-prep/)
Next in Là, có, and how verbs work together: [Subject, verb, object: Tôi ăn cơm](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/svo-order/)

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