# Trở thành / trở nên: become in Vietnamese (A2)

> English "become" splits in two. Before a noun, use trở thành: Em muốn trở thành bác sĩ. I want to become a doctor.

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/tro-thanh-nen/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**become**

Pattern: `[person] + trở thành + [noun] · [person] + trở nên + [adjective]`

Level: A2 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: tro thanh, tro nen

English "become" splits in two. Before a noun, use *trở thành*: *Em muốn trở thành bác sĩ.* I want to become a doctor. Before a describing word, use *trở nên*: *Có con rồi, cuộc sống trở nên bận rộn hơn.* Once you have kids, life gets busier.

Both sound a little careful. You'll hear them when someone tells a story or talks about plans, and you'll read them all the time in the news: *Phở đã trở thành món ăn nổi tiếng khắp thế giới.*

Relaxed talk has shorter ways. Before a noun, *thành* alone is enough: *Hai đứa thành bạn thân từ hồi đi học.* They became best friends back at school. With a describing word, Vietnamese usually adds *ra*, *lên* or *đi* after it instead: *Dạo này chị ốm đi nhiều.* You've got much thinner lately (in Hà Nội, *gầy đi*). That pattern has its own page.

For the job you want to do, *làm* also works: *Lớn lên em muốn làm bác sĩ.* When I grow up I want to be a doctor.

## A common mistake

✗ Em muốn trở nên bác sĩ.

✓ Em muốn trở thành bác sĩ.

*Trở nên* only goes before a describing word. Before a noun, such as a job, use *trở thành*.

## Examples

- Em muốn trở thành bác sĩ. — I want to become a doctor.
- Phở đã trở thành món ăn nổi tiếng khắp thế giới. — Phở has become famous all over the world.
- Có con rồi, cuộc sống trở nên bận rộn hơn. — Once you have kids, life gets busier.
- Hai đứa thành bạn thân từ hồi đi học. — They became best friends back at school.

## Words in this pattern

- [trở nên](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/tro-nen/#s_tro_nen): become
- [trở thành](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/tro-thanh/#s_tro_thanh): become

## Compare

- [Getting more or less: adjective + ra / lên / đi / lại](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/adj-change-ra-di/): become more / less …
- [Jobs: là / làm + job, làm gì?](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/la-lam-job/): be / work as

Previous in Là, có, and how verbs work together: [Back, together, shut: trả lại, đóng lại](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/lai-back-shut/)
Next in Là, có, and how verbs work together: [Being ill or in a bad state: bị + illness or adjective](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/bi-bad-state/)

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