However (written): tuy nhiên, song
however
Pattern: [statement]. Tuy nhiên, [statement] · [A], song + [B] · Song, [statement]
B2 · estimateformalwrittenAt work
Typed without accents: tuy nhien, song
Variants
- tuy vậy
- dù vậy
- mặc dù vậy
Tuy nhiên means "however". It starts a new sentence, followed by a comma, and sets what comes next against what came before: Doanh thu tăng 12%. Tuy nhiên, lợi nhuận lại giảm. Revenue rose 12%. However, profit fell. It can also follow a comma in the middle of a long sentence.
Song is a shorter written "but, yet". It usually joins two halves of one sentence: Dự án đã được duyệt, song vẫn chưa khởi công, the project was approved but hasn't started. Sometimes it opens a sentence: Song, … Don't confuse it with song song, which means parallel or at the same time.
Tuy vậy, dù vậy and mặc dù vậy (even so) do the same job. Lại after the subject often underlines the contrast, as in the first example.
You'll meet tuy nhiên in every kind of formal text: news, official reports, papers, and in presentations and meetings. Song is rarer and more literary.
In conversation, use nhưng or mà: Doanh thu tăng, mà lời lại giảm. Tuy nhiên in a chat sounds like a presentation slide. And keep it apart from tuy … nhưng (although … still), which works inside one sentence: Tuy mắc nhưng ngon.
Examples
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Doanh thu quý III tăng 12%. Tuy nhiên, lợi nhuận lại giảm do chi phí vận chuyển cao.
Third-quarter revenue rose 12%. However, profit fell because of high shipping costs.
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Dự án đã được phê duyệt từ năm 2021, song đến nay vẫn chưa khởi công.
The project was approved in 2021, yet construction has still not begun.
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Kết quả bước đầu khá khả quan. Tuy vậy, cỡ mẫu còn nhỏ nên cần kiểm chứng thêm.
The initial results are fairly encouraging. Even so, the sample is small, so more testing is needed.
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Mưa lớn khiến nhiều tuyến đường ngập sâu. Dù vậy, chưa ghi nhận thiệt hại về người.
Heavy rain left many streets deeply flooded. Even so, no casualties have been reported.