# Noun + mà + sentence in Vietnamese (A2)

> To describe a noun with a whole sentence, like "the shirt I bought yesterday", put the sentence after the noun: cái áo em mua hôm qua.

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/relative-ma/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**which / that / who(m)**

Pattern: `[noun] + mà + [person] + [verb]`

Level: A2 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: ma

To describe a noun with a whole sentence, like "the shirt I bought yesterday", put the sentence after the noun: *cái áo em mua hôm qua*. When the noun is what the action is done to, *mà* can join the two: *cái áo mà em mua hôm qua*. There's no separate word for "who", "which" or "that"; *mà* does all of them.

*Mà* is optional. In everyday speech it's usually left out: *Món em thích nhất là cơm tấm.* The dish I like best is cơm tấm. Keep it when the description is long, when you want to stress it, and in writing, where it's common: *Đây là cuốn sách mà tôi đã nói với anh.* This is the book I told you about.

*Này* and *đó* go at the very end, after the description: *người em gặp hôm qua đó*, that person I met yesterday.

*Mà* doesn't stand for the one doing the action. "The person who helped me" is *người giúp em*, with nothing in between; that has its own page. "The place where" and "the day when" have their own pages too. And don't use *nào* or *ai* here: they only ask questions.

## A common mistake

✗ Đây là cái áo nào em mua hôm qua.

✓ Đây là cái áo mà em mua hôm qua.

*Nào* only asks "which?". To join a description to a noun, use *mà*, or nothing at all: *cái áo em mua hôm qua*.

## Examples

- Cái áo mà em mua hôm qua đâu rồi? — Where's the shirt I bought yesterday?
- Món em thích nhất là cơm tấm. — The dish I like best is cơm tấm.
- Saigon: Đây là quán mà anh nói với em hả? | Hà Nội: Đây là quán mà anh nói với em à? — Is this the place you told me about?
- Người em gặp hôm qua là bạn chị Lan. — The person I met yesterday is Lan's friend.

## Compare

- [Describing a noun with a verb phrase, no 'who / which': người tới hôm qua](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/relative-no-ma/): noun + verb phrase
- [Where (the place in which): nơi (mà)](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/noi-where-relative/): where (relative)
- [The day when, the reason why: noun + mà, khi, vì sao](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/khi-ma-when-relative/): when / why (after a noun)

Previous in Things, counting and numbers: [When của cannot be dropped: cái áo đẹp của tôi](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/cua-required/)
Next in Things, counting and numbers: [Classifier for fields (economy, culture): nền](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/clf-nen/)

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