The entire (formal): toàn, toàn bộ

the whole, entire

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

B2 · estimateformal

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".

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

Join the waitlist

Vietnamese Buddy is invite-only for now. Leave your email and we’ll write to you when accounts open.

Already invited? Sign in

We email you once to confirm your address and once when accounts open — nothing else.