# Những ai / những gì: plural who / what in Vietnamese

> Put những before a question word and it asks for a whole list: Những ai đi? (Who all is going?) Em mua những gì? (What all did you buy?)

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/nhung-qword-plural/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**plural who / what**

Pattern: `những ai · những gì · những cái nào`

Level: B2 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: nhung ai, nhung gi

Put *những* before a question word and it asks for a whole list: *Những ai đi?* (Who all is going?) *Em mua những gì?* (What all did you buy?) The person asking expects several answers, not one. *Những* is the plural word from *những người này*; here it does the same job for *ai* (who) and *gì* (what). Often *có* comes first: *Tối nay có những ai?* (Who's coming tonight?)

The same pairs also work without a question, meaning "whoever, whatever, everything that": *Những ai muốn đi thì đăng ký* (whoever wants to go, sign up). *Tôi nhớ hết những gì cô dạy* (I remember everything you taught us). This use is common in writing too: in notices, *Những ai có nhu cầu …* (those who wish to …), and in the news, *những gì đã xảy ra* (what happened).

For things you can count, *những cái nào*, or *những* + noun + *nào*, asks "which ones": *Chị lấy những cái nào?* (Which ones are you taking?)

You don't need *những* for every question about several people. *Ai đi?* is fine when you don't know if it's one person or more. Add *những* when you expect a list and want all of it.

One trap: *mấy ai* is not "who all" but "hardly anyone": *Mấy ai biết chuyện này* (hardly anyone knows about this).

## Examples

- Tối nay có những ai đi ăn? — Who all is coming to dinner tonight?
- Saigon: Đi chợ em mua những gì vậy? | Hà Nội: Đi chợ em mua những gì thế? — What did you get at the market? (expecting a list)
- Những ai muốn đi Vũng Tàu thì nhắn tôi trước thứ sáu. — Anyone who wants to go to Vũng Tàu, message me before Friday.
- Tôi vẫn nhớ hết những gì cô dạy hồi đó. — I still remember everything you taught us back then. (to a woman teacher)

## Compare

- [Some of them (plural): những](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/nhung-plural/): plural, a subset

Previous in Asking questions: [Isn't it obvious? bộ … hả, chẳng phải … sao](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/rhetorical-negative/)
Next in Asking questions: [Whoever … that one: ai … người đó, sao … vậy](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/qword-correlative/)

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