Describing a noun with a verb phrase, no 'who / which': người tới hôm qua

noun + verb phrase

Pattern: [noun] + [verb phrase]

A2 · estimate

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.

Examples

Highlighted words are what Saigon and Hà Nội say differently.

  • 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.

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