Vietnamese cho is both a lexical predicate “give” and a grammatical element in recipient, beneficiary, permission, and causative frames. Compare Tôi cho bé một quả cam “I give the child an orange,” Tôi mua cam cho bé “I buy oranges for the child,” and Tôi cho bé ăn cam “I let the child eat oranges.” The same form appears, but its position and neighboring predicate produce different argument structures.
English splits these functions among give, to, for, let, and make. Copying an English preposition is therefore especially risky. Learn each cho construction as a complete frame. Taking, fetching, and instrumental lấy are covered separately on the lấy page.
The construction map
| Frame | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
| cho + recipient + thing | give | cho bé một quả táo |
| cho + person + mượn + thing | lend something to someone | cho bạn mượn xe |
| verb + thing + cho + recipient | transfer to recipient | gửi hồ sơ cho chị |
| verb + cho + beneficiary | do for someone | nấu cơm cho cả nhà |
| cho + person + verb phrase | let/allow someone to act | cho con đi chơi |
| làm cho + noun + predicate | cause a result | làm cho phòng sáng hơn |
Cho as the predicate “give”
As a full predicate, cho licenses a giver, a recipient, and a theme. A very common order is giver + cho + recipient + thing. Classifiers appear normally inside the thing phrase.
Bà cho cháu hai cái bánh rồi bảo cháu mang về.
Grandma gave her grandchild two cakes and told them to take them home.
Anh cho tôi mượn cây bút này một lát được không?
Could you lend me this pen for a moment?
Cho mượn means “lend,” literally making something available for another person to borrow. Cho thuê means “rent out.” These collocations show why cho cannot always be translated separately as give.
Chủ nhà cho thuê căn hộ này theo tháng.
The landlord rents out this apartment by the month.
Vietnamese often omits a recoverable theme or recipient: Cho tôi nhé can mean “Give it to me, please,” when the item is visible. Omission depends on shared context, not on a new conjugated form.
Recipient after a transfer predicate
After gửi, đưa, trả, bán, kể, or similar predicates, cho + noun marks the recipient or addressee: gửi cho tôi, trả cho khách, kể cho con nghe. The transferred entity usually precedes the cho phrase.
Tôi đã gửi mã xác nhận cho chị qua tin nhắn.
I sent you the confirmation code by text message.
Em trả chìa khóa cho lễ tân trước khi rời khách sạn nhé.
Return the key to reception before leaving the hotel.
With nói, nói với + person is a common neutral frame for “speak/say to,” while nói cho + person + content often presents the content as information supplied for that person: nói cho tôi biết “tell/let me know.” Do not assume English to selects cho after every speech verb.
Beneficiary: doing something for someone
In verb + object + cho + beneficiary, cho means “for/on behalf of.” The event is not necessarily a physical transfer. Nấu cơm cho mẹ, mở cửa cho khách, and đặt vé cho đồng nghiệp all identify who benefits or whose needs motivate the action. With some predicates, especially when the object is a light measure phrase, cho + beneficiary can precede that object: chụp cho chúng tôi một tấm ảnh. Both orders mark benefit; they do not turn the beneficiary into the thing acted on.
Tối nay tôi nấu cháo cho mẹ vì mẹ đang mệt.
Tonight I’m making rice porridge for Mom because she’s tired.
Bạn chụp cho chúng tôi một tấm ảnh được không?
Could you take a photo for us?
In requests, Vietnamese often places cho tôi/mình after the main predicate: Xem cho tôi cái này “Look at this for me.” In friendly conversation, giúp may explicitly soften the request: Mở cửa giúp mình với. The beneficiary phrase is grammatical structure, not automatically a politeness marker.
Anh kiểm tra giúp tôi địa chỉ này với.
Could you check this address for me? (polite conversational request)
Permission and enabling: cho + person + predicate
When a person after cho is followed by a predicate, cho means “let/allow”: cho con đi, cho khách vào, cho nhân viên nghỉ. The person is simultaneously the object of the allowing and the understood subject of the following predicate.
Cuối tuần bố mẹ cho tôi đi cắm trại với lớp.
My parents are letting me go camping with my class this weekend.
Bảo vệ không cho khách vào sau mười giờ tối.
Security does not allow visitors to enter after ten at night.
With feeding and care predicates, context can shift the same frame from permission toward direct causation. Mẹ cho bé ăn cháo may mean that Mom lets the child eat porridge or that she feeds the child porridge. Who controls the action and what the surrounding discourse says resolve the reading; cho itself does not encode an English-style infinitive.
Bé chưa tự ăn được nên mẹ đang cho bé ăn cháo.
The child cannot eat independently yet, so Mom is feeding the child porridge.
This frame often remains neutral about formal permission. Cho phép + person + verb is more explicitly “permit/authorize” and fits regulations or formal statements. Được + verb presents permission from the actor’s perspective: Tôi được vào “I am allowed to enter.”
Quy định không cho phép nhân viên sao chép dữ liệu ra thiết bị cá nhân.
The regulations do not permit employees to copy data onto personal devices. (formal)
Causation and affected results
Làm cho + noun + predicate means “cause/make [noun] become/do ...”: làm cho phòng sáng hơn “make the room brighter,” làm cho tôi lo “make me worried.” In conversation, làm + noun + predicate can occur without cho, but làm cho clearly marks the affected participant and is common in explanatory prose.
Tin nhắn đó làm cho cả nhà yên tâm hơn.
That message made the whole family feel more reassured.
Some colloquial result commands use verb + cho + adjective/completion, such as nói cho rõ “say it clearly” or làm cho xong “finish it properly/completely.” Here cho does not introduce a person; it helps present the desired result standard.
Có gì thì nói cho rõ, đừng để mọi người đoán.
If there’s something to say, say it clearly; don’t make everyone guess. (informal/neutral)
Aspect, negation, and questions
Lexical cho takes the same aspect positions as other predicates: đã cho, đang cho, sẽ cho, chưa cho. In permission frames, negation không cho + person + verb denies permission. Scope must be clear: Tôi không cho Nam mượn xe means “I do not let Nam borrow the vehicle,” not merely that a giving event failed.
Công ty đã cho nhân viên nghỉ thêm một ngày.
The company has given employees one extra day off.
Mẹ chưa cho bé ăn kem vì bé đang ho.
Mom hasn’t let the child eat ice cream because the child has a cough.
Questions use cho ai? for recipient/beneficiary, cho cái gì? for the thing given, and có cho ... không? for giving or permission. Context is essential because Bạn cho ai? may be incomplete without a visible theme.
Bạn mua món quà này cho ai vậy?
Who did you buy this gift for?
A minimal five-way contrast
| Function | Vietnamese | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| affirmative | Tôi cho bé một quả cam. | I give the child an orange. |
| negative | Tôi không cho bé ăn kẹo. | I do not let the child eat candy. |
| question | Bạn gửi tài liệu cho ai? | Who are you sending the document to? |
| aspect-marked | Tôi đã cho chị ấy số điện thoại rồi. | I have given her the phone number. |
| idiomatic collocation | Cho tôi biết nhé. | Let me know. |
A short dialogue: one form, three frames
— Chị cho em mượn laptop được không? — Được, nhưng đừng cho bé chơi nhé. Chị đang tải tài liệu vào máy cho em đây.
— Could you lend me your laptop? — Yes, but don’t let the child play with it. I’m downloading the documents onto it for you now.
Cho em mượn is a lending construction, cho bé chơi is permission, and final cho em marks the beneficiary. The noun following cho is not enough by itself; the following structure distinguishes the roles.
Register and pragmatic notes
Core cho is neutral and nationwide. Bare Cho tôi... can sound direct when spoken to a stranger, much as “Give me...” can in English. A kinship pronoun, vui lòng (formal), giúp, với, or a question with được không? can calibrate politeness: Chị cho em xin hóa đơn được không? “Could I have the receipt?”
Cho xin + noun is a common conversational request frame. It literally contains “give/request,” but functions as “May I have...?” Xin cho also appears in prayers, petitions, and elevated requests, where its register is more formal or solemn.
Anh cho tôi xin thêm một đôi đũa được không?
Could I have another pair of chopsticks? (polite conversation)
Common Mistakes
1. Using cho for every English ‘to.’ Destinations after motion predicates do not normally take benefactive cho.
❌ Tôi đi cho siêu thị.
Incorrect — the supermarket is a destination, not a recipient.
✅ Tôi đi siêu thị.
I’m going to the supermarket.
2. Copying English let with an infinitive marker. Vietnamese directly uses cho + person + predicate.
❌ Mẹ cho tôi để đi chơi.
Incorrect — để is not an infinitive marker after permission cho.
✅ Mẹ cho tôi đi chơi.
Mom lets me go out.
3. Confusing the beneficiary with the instrument or channel. Cho identifies who benefits or receives; bằng/qua introduces means or channel.
❌ Tôi gửi tài liệu cho email.
Incorrect if email is the channel rather than a person or mailbox treated as destination.
✅ Tôi gửi tài liệu qua email cho chị.
I sent the document by email to you.
4. Omitting the actor in a permission frame when it is not recoverable. The listener must know who is allowed to act.
❌ Nhà trường không cho tham gia chuyến đi.
Incomplete without context — it does not say who is barred from joining.
✅ Nhà trường không cho học sinh lớp sáu tham gia chuyến đi.
The school does not allow sixth-grade students to join the trip.
Key Takeaways
- Lexical cho means “give,” but the same form also marks recipients, beneficiaries, permission, and causation.
- Verb + thing + cho + person typically marks transfer; verb + cho + person can mark benefit; cho + person + predicate marks permission.
- English to and for do not predict cho mechanically.
- Aspect markers precede the unchanged form cho; construction and word order identify its role.
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Start learning Vietnamese →Related Topics
- Lấy: Take, Obtain, and Instrumental Serial UseA2 — Use lấy for taking or fetching, obtaining and selecting, retrieving something back, and introducing an instrument in a serial predicate.
- Đưa: Hand, Take, or Bring with Deictic ContextA2 — Use đưa for handing something over, taking or bringing someone somewhere, and directing an entity toward an endpoint.
- Direct and Indirect ObjectsA2 — How Vietnamese identifies themes, recipients, and beneficiaries through verb frames, cho phrases, context, and information structure.
- Double-Object and Cho PhrasesA2 — How Vietnamese chooses between recipient-before-theme frames and cho-marked recipient or beneficiary phrases.
- Được for Permission and OpportunityA2 — Use preverbal được for being allowed or getting the chance to act, and distinguish it from ability and explicit authorization.