# Noun + viên: member / staff in Vietnamese (A2)

> Viên at the end of a word makes a person who belongs to a group or holds a role, often as staff: nhân viên (employee, staff member), giáo viên (teacher)…

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/vien-member/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**member / staff**

Pattern: `[noun] + viên`

Level: A2 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: vien

*Viên* at the end of a word makes a person who belongs to a group or holds a role, often as staff: *nhân viên* (employee, staff member), *giáo viên* (teacher), *sinh viên* (university student), *thành viên* (member), *hội viên* (club member), *diễn viên* (actor), *hướng dẫn viên* (tour guide), *tiếp viên* (flight attendant).

You can't add it to any word you like; these are set words, many from Chinese. But *viên* at the end tells you it's a person in a role. Many take a second word for the kind of work: *nhân viên ngân hàng* (bank employee), *nhân viên bán hàng* (sales assistant).

*Nhà* comes before the field and names a respected profession: *nhà báo*, *nhà văn*. *Viên* comes after and names a member or someone doing a job; it's neutral and everyday. *Trưởng* names the head.

Like other job words, these take no classifier after a number: *ba sinh viên*, *hai nhân viên*.

*Viên* is also a classifier, for pills and small round things: *một viên thuốc*. In the news it sometimes comes before a person, *viên cảnh sát*; that sounds cold, so don't use it for anyone you know.

## Examples

- Em là nhân viên văn phòng. — I'm an office worker.
- Mẹ em là giáo viên tiếng Anh. — My mum is an English teacher.
- Lớp em có ba mươi sinh viên. — There are thirty students in my class.
- Hướng dẫn viên nói tiếng Anh giỏi lắm. — The tour guide speaks really good English.

## Compare

- [Professionals: nhà + field (nhà báo, nhà khoa học)](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/nha-profession/): -ist / -er (profession)
- [Which classifier: cái for things, con for animals, người for people, and the common others](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/clf-cai-chiec/): picking the classifier

Previous in How words are built: [Head of: trưởng (trưởng phòng, hiệu trưởng)](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/truong-head/)
Next in How words are built: [Pair words mean things in general: quần áo, bàn ghế](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/paired-compound-collective/)

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