Moving in a direction: ra, vô / vào, lên, xuống, về, qua, tới

You know that đi takes a place straight after it: đi chợ. To say which way you're going, Vietnamese has a set of direction words, each a verb on its own: ra (out), vô (in; vào in writing and in Hà Nội), lên (up), xuống (down), về (back, home), qua (over, across; in Hà Nội, sang) and tới (to, arrive at; đến in writing and in Hà Nội).

The place comes straight after them: ra biển (go out to the beach), vô nhà (go inside), lên lầu (go upstairs; in Hà Nội, lên gác), qua nhà bạn (go over to a friend's). Đi can come first or be left out: Em đi ra chợ and Em ra chợ mean the same. They also work alone: Vô đi! Come in!

Lên and xuống are also getting on and off: lên xe (get on the bus, get in the car), xuống xe (get off). Về is going back where you belong: về nhà, về quê. Lại is coming over to the speaker: Lại đây! Come here!

Which word fits a trip across the country, ra Hà Nội or lên Đà Lạt, has its own page. After another verb, the same words say which way the action goes: chạy ra, đứng lên.