As a phase predicate, thôi means cease, give up, or no longer continue an activity or role: thôi làm ở đó “stop working there,” thôi học “leave school/stop studying.” It presents a transition away from an ongoing or habitual situation, often because the subject decides or circumstances lead them to abandon it.
Vietnamese thôi also has important non-phase uses: sentence-final thôi means “only / that's all,” and independent Thôi! can close a discussion or tell someone “enough.” Position and context therefore matter greatly. The more concrete lexical stop predicates ngừng and dừng are covered on the next page.
Thôi + activity or role: cease continuing it
In the basic phase construction, thôi comes before the activity or role that is abandoned. It is common with longer-term activities such as work, study, smoking, or participation.
Anh ấy thôi làm ở ngân hàng từ đầu năm nay.
He stopped working at the bank at the beginning of this year.
Sau đợt ốm đó, bố tôi thôi hút thuốc hẳn.
After that illness, my father quit smoking completely.
Cô ấy định thôi học, nhưng gia đình khuyên cô ấy học tiếp.
She intended to leave school, but her family advised her to continue studying.
The complement names what no longer continues. Thôi làm normally means stop working or quit a job, whereas làm thôi often means “just do it / simply do it.” This order contrast is not optional.
The subject may be omitted when recoverable, especially in conversation:
Nếu công ty chuyển quá xa thì chắc tôi thôi làm.
If the company moves too far away, I'll probably quit working there.
Thôi việc is used in administrative or (formal) employment language for leaving a position; nghỉ việc is more common in everyday speech. Buộc thôi việc is an official phrase meaning “dismiss from employment.”
Nhân viên phải báo trước theo hợp đồng khi xin thôi việc.
Employees must give notice as stipulated in the contract when resigning.
Thôi with momentary behavior
For an immediate command to cease, speakers very often use Thôi!, Đừng...nữa, or Thôi, đừng...nữa rather than mechanically placing thôi before every verb.
Thôi, đừng tranh cãi nữa; mình quay lại vấn đề chính đi.
Enough, stop arguing; let's return to the main issue.
Em bé thôi khóc khi nghe mẹ hát.
The baby stopped crying when it heard its mother sing.
The second example is grammatical narrative Vietnamese, though everyday speakers may also say Em bé nín khóc or Em bé không khóc nữa. There is genuine lexical preference here: Vietnamese does not use one universal equivalent of English stop in every collocation.
The fixed pattern không thôi means “without ceasing / incessantly,” often (literary) or elevated when it follows a verb.
Ngoài trời, mưa rơi không thôi suốt cả đêm.
Outside, the rain fell without ceasing all night.
In ordinary conversation, mưa mãi không dứt or mưa suốt đêm may sound more natural, depending on the intended emphasis.
Sentence-final thôi is limitation, not cessation
After a phrase or at the end of a clause, thôi often limits the claim: “only,” “just,” or “that's all.” It does not say that an event stops.
Tôi hỏi cho biết thôi, không có ý trách anh đâu.
I'm only asking so I know; I don't mean to blame you.
Hôm nay mình uống một ly thôi nhé.
Let's have just one drink today, okay?
Mệt thì nghỉ thôi; mai làm tiếp.
If we're tired, let's just rest; we'll continue tomorrow.
Compare Tôi thôi uống cà phê “I stop drinking coffee” with Tôi uống cà phê thôi “I only drink coffee / I'll just have coffee.” The linear order changes what thôi takes scope over.
Cessation is not completion or exhaustion
Stopping does not entail reaching a goal. This is the core contrast with xong and hết.
| Form | Phase meaning | Possible unfinished remainder? |
|---|---|---|
| thôi đọc | cease reading / give up reading | yes |
| đọc xong | reach the endpoint of the reading task | not within the defined task |
| đọc hết | cover all the relevant text | no relevant text remains unread |
| không còn đọc nữa | the former reading practice no longer holds | not a completion claim |
| dừng đọc / ngừng đọc | interrupt or terminate the ongoing process | yes |
Tôi đọc được nửa cuốn thì thôi không đọc nữa vì nội dung lặp đi lặp lại quá nhiều.
I got halfway through the book and then gave up because the content was too repetitive.
The book is neither đọc xong nor đọc hết. Thì thôi không đọc nữa presents abandonment at that point. By contrast, đọc xong thì nghỉ means “rest after finishing the reading.”
Thôi inside a tenseless aspect system
Vietnamese time arises from temporal expressions, discourse, event type, and optional viewpoint markers. Thôi describes a phase change; it has no inherent past tense.
| Form | Interpretive contribution |
|---|---|
| đã ăn | prior realization of eating |
| đang ăn | eating viewed internally |
| sẽ ăn | projected eating |
| ăn rồi | completed eating or relevant change |
| từng đi | prior experience of going |
| mới đến / vừa đến | recent arrival |
| chưa xong | completion boundary unreached |
| sắp mưa | rain viewed as imminent |
| vẫn làm | continued activity, opposite to cessation |
| thôi làm | transition out of the activity or role |
Năm ngoái chị ấy thôi dạy is clearly past because of năm ngoái. Cuối tháng này chị ấy sẽ thôi dạy projects cessation. Chị ấy đã thôi dạy highlights that the cessation has already become real, often against a prior expectation.
Cuối học kỳ này, thầy Nam sẽ thôi dạy để tập trung nghiên cứu.
At the end of this semester, Mr. Nam will stop teaching to focus on research.
Đến khi tôi gọi, họ vẫn chưa chịu thôi tranh cãi.
By the time I called, they still had not agreed to stop arguing.
The idiomatic chưa chịu thôi + V says that the subject has not yet been willing to cease the activity. In everyday wording, vẫn còn đang tranh cãi is more direct when simple continuation, rather than a hoped-for decision to stop, is central.
A dialogue: two different thôi readings
— Dạo này anh còn làm thêm ở quán không? — Không, tôi thôi làm ở đó rồi. Bây giờ cuối tuần tôi chỉ nhận một ca ở thư viện thôi. — Thế cũng tốt, đỡ mệt hơn.
— Are you still working extra shifts at the café? — No, I've stopped working there. Now on weekends I only take one shift at the library. — That's good; it should be less tiring.
The first thôi làm is cessation of the café job. The second, clause-final thôi, limits the amount to one library shift. Treating both as the English verb stop would destroy the contrast. Rồi after thôi làm presents the job change as established now; it is not an automatic perfect marker.
Quick decision aid
| Intention | Natural form | Register/note |
|---|---|---|
| quit a habitual activity or role | thôi + V | neutral; common with work/study/habits |
| tell someone to cease immediately | Thôi! / Đừng V nữa! | common (informal) directive |
| stop a concrete process or motion | ngừng/dừng + V | lexical stop predicates |
| mean “only / just” | phrase + thôi | not cessation |
| finish the task successfully | V + xong | endpoint reached |
| exhaust all material | V + hết | nothing relevant remains |
Common Mistakes
1. Reversing the order and changing the meaning. Preverbal thôi can signal cessation; postverbal thôi often means “only.”
❌ Tôi uống rượu thôi từ năm ngoái.
Wrong for ‘I stopped drinking alcohol last year’; uống rượu thôi is read as ‘only drink alcohol / just drink alcohol.’
✅ Tôi thôi uống rượu từ năm ngoái.
I stopped drinking alcohol last year.
2. Using cessation where successful completion is intended. Thôi can imply abandonment before the endpoint.
❌ Làm bài thôi thì nộp cho cô.
Wrong for ‘when you finish the assignment’; postverbal thôi limits the activity (‘just do the assignment’) rather than marking a successful endpoint.
✅ Làm bài xong thì nộp cho cô.
Hand the assignment to the teacher when you finish it.
3. Adding đã merely because English uses stopped. A past adverbial already locates the change.
❌ Năm ngoái anh ấy thôi đã làm ở đây.
Incorrect: đã cannot be inserted after thôi as though it were a past-tense ending on the following verb.
✅ Năm ngoái anh ấy thôi làm ở đây.
Last year he stopped working here.
4. Treating rồi as an obligatory perfect ending. Add rồi for a currently relevant changed state, not because English has has stopped.
❌ Từ mai tôi thôi rồi làm ca đêm.
Incorrect order; rồi cannot be inserted as an English perfect auxiliary.
✅ Từ mai tôi sẽ thôi làm ca đêm.
Starting tomorrow, I will stop working the night shift.
Key Takeaways
- Thôi + activity/role marks withdrawal or cessation; it does not guarantee successful completion.
- Activity + thôi often means “just/only do the activity,” so order changes scope and meaning.
- Independent Thôi! and Đừng...nữa! are common immediate stop directives.
- Xong marks an endpoint, hết exhaustive extent, and ngừng/dừng lexical stopping of a process or motion.
- Locate cessation through context and time phrases; do not force English past or perfect morphology into đã and rồi.
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- Hết and Exhaustive CompletionB1 — Use hết when a quantity, resource, path, text, or relevant set is exhausted so that none of it remains.
- Ngừng and Dừng as Stop PredicatesB2 — Choose ngừng for suspending an unfolding process and dừng for bringing motion or controlled activity to a stopping point.
- Còn and Remaining ContinuityB1 — Use còn to present people, things, time, or situations as remaining available or continuing at a reference point.
- Placement of Adverbs around the PredicateA1 — How Vietnamese places aspect, frequency, focus, degree, and manner expressions to control their scope around the predicate.