# Toàn / toàn bộ: the whole, entire in Vietnamese (B2)

> Toàn and toàn bộ mean "the whole, the entire" in formal writing. Toàn joins a Sino-Vietnamese word, most often one for a territory or a group, and makes…

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/toan-whole-formal/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**the whole, entire**

Pattern: `toàn + [word for a place or group] (toàn quốc, toàn thành phố) · toàn bộ + [noun] (toàn bộ số tiền)`

Level: B2 (our estimate) · Register: formal

Typed without accents: toan, toan bo

*Toàn* and *toàn bộ* mean "the whole, the entire" in formal writing. *Toàn* joins a Sino-Vietnamese word, most often one for a territory or a group, and makes a fixed phrase: *toàn quốc* (nationwide), *toàn thành phố* (the whole city), *toàn dân* (the whole population), *toàn cầu* (global), *toàn ngành* (the whole industry). A few others are common too: *toàn thân* (the whole body), *toàn văn* (the full text), *toàn thời gian* (full-time). *Toàn bộ* goes before an ordinary noun and means all of it, nothing left out: *toàn bộ số tiền* (the full amount), *toàn bộ hồ sơ* (all the documents), *toàn bộ nhân viên* (all the staff). After a verb, *toàn bộ* means completely: *bị phá hủy toàn bộ*, destroyed completely.

You'll meet both all the time in news reports and official notices: prices adjusted *trên toàn quốc*, documents submitted *toàn bộ* online.

In conversation, "the whole" is *cả*: *cả nước* (the whole country), *cả nhà* (the whole family), *cả cái bánh* (the whole cake).

Be careful with *toàn* in speech. Before an ordinary noun it means "nothing but": *Tủ lạnh toàn bia*, there's nothing but beer in the fridge. So *toàn* in a fixed phrase like *toàn quốc* is the formal "whole", while *toàn* + an everyday noun in speech means "nothing but".

## A common mistake

✗ Em đọc toàn cuốn sách trong một ngày.

✓ Em đọc hết cả cuốn sách trong một ngày.

For one ordinary thing, "the whole" is *cả* or *toàn bộ*. *Toàn* alone lives in fixed phrases like *toàn quốc*, and in speech *toàn* + noun means "nothing but".

## Examples

- Giá xăng được điều chỉnh trên toàn quốc từ 15 giờ chiều nay. — Fuel prices are being adjusted nationwide from 3 p.m. today.
- Toàn tỉnh hiện có hơn 300 hợp tác xã nông nghiệp. — The province as a whole now has more than 300 farming cooperatives.
- Công ty cam kết hoàn trả toàn bộ số tiền cho khách hàng. — The company has committed to refunding customers in full.
- Toàn bộ hồ sơ được nộp trực tuyến qua Cổng Dịch vụ công. — All documents are submitted online through the public services portal.

## Compare

- [The whole, all of: cả](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/ca-whole/): all / the whole
- [Nothing but: toàn (là)](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/toan-la-nothing-but/): all, nothing but

Previous in Things, counting and numbers: [The day when, the reason why: noun + mà, khi, vì sao](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/khi-ma-when-relative/)

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