# Đầu / cuối: start / end of in Vietnamese (A2)

> Đầu means "the beginning of" and cuối means "the end of". They go straight before a word for a time or a place, with no word for "of": đầu tuần (the…

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/dau-cuoi/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**start / end of**

Pattern: `đầu / cuối + [time or place noun]`

Level: A2 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: dau, cuoi

*Đầu* means "the beginning of" and *cuối* means "the end of". They go straight before a word for a time or a place, with no word for "of": *đầu tuần* (the start of the week), *cuối tháng* (the end of the month), *cuối đường* (the end of the road).

For time, they go with *tuần*, *tháng* and *năm*, and you can say which one: *đầu tháng sáu* (early June), *cuối năm nay* (the end of this year). *Cuối tuần* is the weekend: *Cuối tuần em làm gì?* Like other time words, these usually open the sentence.

For places, they suit long things: a street, an alley, a queue. *Đầu hẻm* is the entrance to the alley and *cuối hẻm* the far end (in Hà Nội, *ngõ*): *Nhà chị ở cuối hẻm.* *Giữa* fills the middle: *giữa tháng*, *giữa đường*.

After a noun, the same two words mean "first" and "last": *lần đầu* (the first time), *ngày cuối* (the last day). So *cuối năm* is the end of the year, but *năm cuối* is the final year, of a course for example.

## A common mistake

✗ Tôi về quê cuối của tháng.

✓ Tôi về quê cuối tháng.

*Cuối* takes the time word directly, with no *của*: *cuối tháng*, the end of the month.

## Examples

- Cuối tuần em làm gì? — What are you doing at the weekend?
- Đầu tháng sau tôi đi Đà Nẵng. — I'm going to Đà Nẵng early next month.
- Saigon: Nhà chị ở cuối hẻm này. | Hà Nội: Nhà chị ở cuối ngõ này. — My house is at the end of this alley.
- Cuối tháng em mới có lương. — I don't get paid until the end of the month.

## Words in this pattern

- [cuối](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/cuoi-end/#s_cuoi_end): end
- [đầu](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/dau-head/#s_dau_start): start

Previous in Places and movement: [At (formal): tại](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/tai-at-formal/)
Next in Places and movement: [Direction words follow the map and the speaker: ra Hà Nội, vô Sài Gòn, lên Đà Lạt, lên lầu](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/vao-ra-north-south/)

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