# Describing a noun with a verb phrase in Vietnamese (A2)

> To describe a noun by what it does, put the verb phrase straight after the noun, with nothing in between: người tới hôm qua (the person who came…

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/relative-no-ma/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**noun + verb phrase**

Pattern: `[noun] + [verb phrase]`

Level: A2 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

To describe a noun by what it does, put the verb phrase straight after the noun, with nothing in between: *người tới hôm qua* (the person who came yesterday; in Hà Nội *đến*), *chị bán bánh mì* (the woman who sells bánh mì), *xe đi Vũng Tàu* (the bus that goes to Vũng Tàu). English needs "who", "which" or "that"; Vietnamese simply follows the noun with the description, the same way it follows a noun with an adjective: *áo đẹp*, *người tới hôm qua*.

*Mà* doesn't go here. It joins only when the noun is what the action is done to, with the doer in between: *cái áo (mà) em mua*. That has its own page.

*Này*, *đó* and *kia* go at the very end, after the whole description: *Chị đứng ở cửa đó là ai vậy?* Who's that woman standing at the door?

Some of these have become ordinary words: *người bán hàng* (shop assistant), *người lái xe* (driver). The pattern is the same; you just meet them so often that they feel like one word.

## A common mistake

✗ Người mà giúp em hôm qua là bạn chị Lan.

✓ Người giúp em hôm qua là bạn chị Lan.

When the noun does the action, nothing goes between it and the verb. *Mà* is only for the person or thing the action is done to.

## Examples

- Saigon: Người giúp em hôm qua là ai vậy? | Hà Nội: Người giúp em hôm qua là ai thế? — Who was the person who helped you yesterday?
- Saigon: Chị bán bánh mì đầu hẻm dễ thương lắm. | Hà Nội: Chị bán bánh mì đầu ngõ dễ thương lắm. — The woman who sells bánh mì at the end of the alley is really sweet.
- Saigon: Xe đi Vũng Tàu đậu ở đâu vậy anh? | Hà Nội: Xe đi Vũng Tàu đỗ ở đâu thế anh? — Where does the bus to Vũng Tàu stop?
- Mấy bạn ngồi bàn bên kia là người Nhật. — The people at the table over there are Japanese.

## Compare

- [Which, that (the noun as object): noun + mà + sentence](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/relative-ma/): which / that / who(m)

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