# Đi + place, no 'to' in Vietnamese (A1)

> After đi (go), the place usually comes straight after, with no word for "to": đi Hà Nội (go to Hà Nội), đi Nhật (go to Japan), đi chợ (go to the market)…

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/di-place-no-prep/ · Updated 2026-11-09

**go to (no preposition)**

Pattern: `đi + [city, country, or set place] · đi + làm / học`

Level: A1 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

After *đi* (go), the place usually comes straight after, with no word for "to": *đi Hà Nội* (go to Hà Nội), *đi Nhật* (go to Japan), *đi chợ* (go to the market), *đi biển* (go to the beach). To ask where someone is going, put *đâu* (where) in the same spot: *Em đi đâu vậy?* It's also a friendly greeting, and *Đi chợ* is a full answer. You'll also hear *đi đến* or *đi tới* (go to), and direction words like *ra* (out), *vào* (in) and *lên* (up): *đi ra chợ*, *đi lên Đà Lạt*. In Hà Nội it ends in *thế*: *Em đi đâu thế?*

*Đi* works the same way with *làm* (work) and *học* (study): *đi làm* is go to work, *đi học* is go to school or to class.

Don't put *ở* (at) between *đi* and the place you're going: *Tôi đi chợ* (I'm going to the market), not *Tôi đi ở chợ*. *Ở* is for where something is or happens: *Tôi làm ở chợ* (I work at the market). So it can follow *đi làm* or *đi học*: *Em đi học ở đâu?* Where do you go to school?

Going home is different: it takes *về*, as in *về nhà* (go home) or *về quê* (go back to your hometown). In Saigon, going over to someone's place is *qua*: *qua nhà bạn*. In Hà Nội it's *sang nhà bạn*.

## A common mistake

✗ Em đi ở đâu vậy?

✓ Em đi đâu vậy?

After *đi*, the place, or *đâu*, follows directly. *Ở* is for where something is, not where you're going.

## Examples

- Saigon: Em đi đâu vậy? | Hà Nội: Em đi đâu thế? — Where are you going?
- Dạ, em đi chợ. — I'm going to the market.
- Tháng sau tôi đi Nhật. — I'm going to Japan next month.
- Saigon: Ba mẹ em đi làm rồi. | Hà Nội: Bố mẹ em đi làm rồi. — My parents have gone to work.

## Words in this pattern

- [đi](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/di-go/#lx_di): go

## Compare

- [Moving in a direction: ra, vô / vào, lên, xuống, về, qua, tới](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/direction-verbs/): out / in / up / down / back / across / to
- [Verb + verb with no 'to': thích học, đi ăn](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/verb-verb/): verb chains
- [Went and came back, back from: đi … về, ở … về](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/di-ve-return-from/): be back from

## Includes

- [Where to? đi đâu, no ở](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/di-dau-where-to/): where to?

Previous in Places and movement: [By, with, in: bằng (transport, tool, language)](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/bang-by-means/)
Next in Places and movement: [Here, there: ở đây, ở đó, đằng kia](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/o-day-here/)

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