Vietnamese bán presents a transfer from the seller's side: someone gives up ownership or access in exchange for money or another agreed value. It does not conjugate. Buyer, price, channel, quantity, completion, and commercial direction are expressed elsewhere in the clause.
A reliable reference therefore maps bán + object, bán cho + buyer, bán với giá + amount, bán hết, bán được, and other constructions instead of inventing equivalents of English sell/sold/selling. This page stays with selling and price frames. Identity and classification with là are covered separately on the dedicated là page; acquisition from the buyer's viewpoint is covered under mua.
A decision aid for bán
| Frame | Meaning or focus | Typical phrase |
|---|---|---|
| bán + object | sell goods, a service, or a right | bán vé; bán bản quyền |
| bán + object + cho + buyer | name the purchaser or recipient | bán xe cho người quen |
| bán + object + với giá + amount | state a careful or formal sale price | bán với giá ba tỷ đồng |
| bán + object + giá + amount | state the asking/actual price compactly | bán áo giá hai trăm nghìn |
| bán theo + unit | price or distribute by a measure | bán theo cân |
| bán được / bán hết | manage to sell / sell all, sell out | bán được nhà; bán hết vé |
| bán ra / bán lại | commercial outflow / resell or sell back | giá bán ra; bán lại vé |
The object need not be a physical product. Natural objects include nhà, vé, dịch vụ, bảo hiểm, bản quyền, and cổ phần. Whether an unmodified noun is singular, plural, specific, or generic comes from context and noun-phrase grammar, not a change in bán.
Gia đình tôi bán đồ ăn sáng từ sáu giờ.
My family sells breakfast food from six o'clock.
Nhà xuất bản đã bán bản quyền chuyển thể cho một hãng phim độc lập.
The publisher sold the adaptation rights to an independent film company. (business/formal)
The buyer and the sales channel
The buyer normally appears with cho: bán nhà cho một cặp vợ chồng trẻ. With pronouns and recoverable objects, Vietnamese may say bán cho tôi “sell it to me.” This cho marks the receiving party; it is not an English infinitive marker or a general-purpose equivalent of to.
Chủ cũ bán lại chiếc xe cho tôi sau khi chuyển ra nước ngoài.
The former owner resold the car to me after moving abroad.
Location and channel use expressions such as ở chợ, tại cửa hàng, trên mạng, qua đại lý, and theo hợp đồng. Bán qua mạng profiles the internet as a channel; bán trên một trang web identifies the platform. These are not interchangeable with buyer-marking cho.
Nhiều hộ nhỏ bán đặc sản địa phương qua mạng thay vì thuê cửa hàng.
Many small households sell local specialties online instead of renting a shop.
In service encounters, có bán...không? asks whether an item is stocked or offered, while bán cho tôi... begins a purchase request. Address terms and particles determine politeness.
Cô ơi, ở đây có bán pin loại này không ạ?
Excuse me, ma'am, do you sell this type of battery here? (polite)
Saying the price precisely
Với giá + amount is explicit and works well in news, contracts, and careful descriptions. Colloquial commercial language often uses giá + amount or simply places the amount after the product when the relationship is obvious. Bán bao nhiêu? may ask price in a bargaining context, but bán với giá bao nhiêu? removes ambiguity with quantity.
Khu đất được bán với giá cao hơn mức định giá ban đầu.
The parcel was sold at a price above the initial valuation. (formal)
Xoài này chị bán bao nhiêu một ký?
How much are you selling these mangoes for per kilogram? (informal market speech)
Cửa hàng bán loại đèn này giá tám trăm nghìn đồng, đã gồm phí lắp đặt.
The shop sells this type of lamp for 800,000 dong, including installation.
Use mỗi, một, or theo to state a unit: năm mươi nghìn một hộp, tính theo mét, bán theo bộ. Bán rẻ and bán đắt evaluate the price relative to expectations; they do not literally mean that the seller itself is cheap or expensive.
Results and commercial direction
Bán được has two major readings. With an item, it often means “manage to sell”: bán được nhà. With a quantity or amount, it reports sales achieved: bán được ba trăm vé. Được is therefore a result or ability element, not a past-tense ending.
Sau ba tháng rao tin, họ mới bán được căn hộ.
Only after advertising for three months did they manage to sell the apartment.
Bán hết means that the relevant stock was completely sold. Hết hàng describes the resulting stock state, while cháy hàng “sell like hot cakes/be sold out” is journalistic and promotional. Bán sạch is emphatic and often informal.
Vé buổi tối đã bán hết chỉ trong hai mươi phút.
Tickets for the evening performance sold out in just twenty minutes.
Bán lại can mean resell something one acquired, or sell something back to a previous supplier or owner; the complement resolves the direction. Bán ra is common in finance, inventories, and market reports, contrasting with mua vào. Rao bán foregrounds offering or advertising an item for sale, not a completed transfer.
Ngân hàng giữ nguyên giá mua vào nhưng tăng nhẹ giá bán ra.
The bank kept its buying rate unchanged but slightly raised its selling rate. (financial)
Căn nhà đang được rao bán, nhưng chủ nhà chưa nhận lời đề nghị nào.
The house is being offered for sale, but the owner has not accepted any offer.
Common lexicalized extensions include buôn bán “trade/do business,” bán hàng “sell goods/work in sales,” bán lẻ “retail,” and bán buôn (common in the North) or bán sỉ (common in the South) for “wholesale.” Both wholesale terms are understood nationally, but the regional preference matters in natural commercial speech. Bán đứng means betray or sell someone out and is strongly negative; it no longer describes an ordinary retail transaction.
Anh ta bị tố đã bán đứng đồng đội để tự bảo vệ mình.
He was accused of selling out his teammates to protect himself. (strongly negative/figurative)
Aspect, time, and scope
Đã bán presents the sale as prior or realized, đang bán as ongoing commercial activity or an active offering, sẽ bán as projected, vừa bán as recent, and chưa bán được as an expected successful sale not yet achieved. The time reading comes from these markers, adverbials, and discourse—not a conjugated form of bán.
Cửa hàng đang bán giảm giá toàn bộ đồ mùa hè.
The shop is selling all its summer clothing at a discount.
Tôi chưa bán xe vì vẫn cần đi làm hằng ngày.
I haven't sold the car because I still need it for my daily commute.
Báo cáo năm ngoái cho biết đến cuối quý, công ty đã bán được hơn một nghìn thiết bị.
Last year's report showed that by the end of the quarter, the company had sold more than one thousand devices.
The last clause receives a past-in-the-past interpretation from đến cuối quý inside the explicitly past report frame, not from a special pluperfect form. See past-in-the-past through context.
A five-way contrast
| Function | Vietnamese | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| affirmative | Quán này bán bánh cuốn vào buổi sáng. | This shop sells bánh cuốn in the morning. |
| negative | Họ không bán đồ uống có cồn. | They do not sell alcoholic drinks. |
| question | Chị bán chiếc máy ảnh này bao nhiêu? | How much are you selling this camera for? |
| aspect-marked | Chúng tôi đã bán hết lô hàng đầu tiên. | We have sold the entire first batch. |
| idiomatic collocation | Đừng bán rẻ uy tín chỉ vì lợi nhuận trước mắt. | Don't sell your reputation cheaply for short-term profit. (figurative) |
The frame changes what has happened
— Căn hộ của chị bán chưa? — Tôi mới rao bán thôi, chưa bán được. Có người trả giá hai tỷ tám, nhưng tôi muốn bán với giá ba tỷ cho một gia đình sẽ ở lâu dài.
— Has your apartment sold yet? — I've only just listed it; I haven't managed to sell it. Someone offered 2.8 billion, but I want to sell it for 3 billion to a family that will live there long term.
Rao bán reports an offer entering the market, not a transfer. Chưa bán được says the intended result has not occurred. Với giá supplies the target price, and cho một gia đình supplies the preferred buyer. English may repeat sell throughout, but Vietnamese construction choices keep these stages distinct.
Common Mistakes
1. Using cho to introduce the sale price. Cho marks the buyer or beneficiary; price needs với giá or a conventional compact price phrase.
❌ Tôi bán chiếc xe cho hai trăm triệu đồng.
Incorrect for a price—this makes the amount occupy the buyer frame.
✅ Tôi bán chiếc xe với giá hai trăm triệu đồng.
I sold the car for 200 million dong.
2. Treating bán được as an ordinary past form. Được adds attainment or a measured sales result.
❌ Hôm qua cửa hàng bán được hàng như mọi ngày.
Poor if all that is meant is routine past selling—được invites a successful-result reading.
✅ Hôm qua cửa hàng bán hàng như mọi ngày.
Yesterday the shop sold goods as usual.
3. Using an English-style particle for “sell out.” Vietnamese uses the result hết, not a literal equivalent of English out.
❌ Vé đã bán ra hết ngoài.
Incorrect—the English particle sequence has been copied into Vietnamese.
✅ Vé đã bán hết rồi.
The tickets have sold out.
4. Confusing offering with completed selling. Rao bán says that something is advertised; it does not entail a buyer.
❌ Tôi đã rao bán được căn nhà cho anh Minh.
Contradictory if a completed sale is intended—rao bán focuses on listing or offering.
✅ Tôi đã bán căn nhà cho anh Minh.
I sold the house to Mr. Minh.
Key Takeaways
- Bán is invariant; time and viewpoint come from markers, adverbials, and context.
- Cho introduces a buyer, while với giá or giá + amount states the price.
- Distinguish an offer (rao bán), an achieved sale (bán được), exhausted stock (bán hết), and commercial outflow (bán ra).
- Learn figurative and commercial collocations—bán đứng, bán lẻ, bán buôn, bán rẻ—as constructional meanings, not English particle translations.
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