# Vốn: originally, by nature, always was in Vietnamese

> Vốn says what something was from the start. It goes before là or the verb, and it has two close uses.

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/von-originally/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**originally, by nature, always was**

Pattern: `[person or thing] + vốn (là) + [noun] · [person or thing] + vốn + [verb or adjective]`

Level: B2 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: von

Variants:

- vốn dĩ (emphatic)

*Vốn* says what something was from the start. It goes before *là* or the verb, and it has two close uses.

With *là* and a noun, it says what someone or something originally was, usually before a change: *Anh Tuấn vốn là kỹ sư, mấy năm nay mới chuyển qua mở quán cà phê.* Tuấn was an engineer to begin with; only in the last few years has he opened a café. *Khu này vốn là ruộng lúa.* This area used to be rice fields.

Before an adjective or a verb, it says what someone or something has always been like, often to explain something: *Chị Lan vốn ít nói.* Lan has always been quiet. *Vốn đã* means "already, to begin with", and the next part often adds something worse: *Đường này vốn đã kẹt, giờ còn đào lên sửa nữa.* *Vốn dĩ* is stronger, "in the first place, by its very nature": *Chuyện này vốn dĩ không phải lỗi của em.*

You'll meet *vốn* in news and stories, and in careful speech. In casual Saigon talk, *hồi trước* (before) often does the first job and *trước giờ* (always, until now) the second.

Compare *vẫn* (still): *vẫn* says nothing has changed since some point, while *vốn* goes back to how things were at the start. *Từng* (once) only says it happened at some point: *Anh Tuấn từng làm kỹ sư*, Tuấn once worked as an engineer. And don't confuse it with the noun *vốn*, capital or a stock of something: *vốn đầu tư* (investment capital), *vốn từ vựng* (vocabulary).

## Examples

- Saigon: Anh Tuấn vốn là kỹ sư, mấy năm nay mới chuyển qua mở quán cà phê. | Hà Nội: Anh Tuấn vốn là kỹ sư, mấy năm nay mới chuyển sang mở quán cà phê. — Tuấn was originally an engineer; it's only in the last few years that he's opened a café.
- Khu này vốn là ruộng lúa, giờ toàn chung cư. — This area used to be rice fields; now it's all apartment blocks.
- Saigon: Chị Lan vốn ít nói, anh đừng nghĩ chỉ giận anh. | Hà Nội: Chị Lan vốn ít nói, anh đừng nghĩ chị ấy giận anh. — Lan has always been quiet, so don't think she's angry with you.
- Saigon: Đường này vốn đã kẹt, giờ còn đào lên sửa nữa. | Hà Nội: Đường này vốn đã tắc, giờ còn đào lên sửa nữa. — This road was jammed to begin with, and now they've dug it up for repairs too.
- Chuyện này vốn dĩ không phải lỗi của em. — This was never your fault in the first place.

## Compare

- [Ever and never so far: … bao giờ chưa, chưa … bao giờ](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/chua-bao-gio-ever/): have you ever? / never yet
- [Still: vẫn / còn / vẫn còn](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/van-con-still/): still
- [Back when: hồi + time (hồi nhỏ, hồi đó)](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/hoi-back-when/): back when, at the time of

Previous in Time and when things happen: [Once (when and if): một khi](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/mot-khi-once/)

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