An experiencer is the person who feels an emotion, holds an attitude, remembers something, or undergoes a mental state. Vietnamese commonly places that person first: Tôi thích cà phê “I like coffee,” Tôi sợ chó “I am afraid of dogs,” Tôi nhớ nhà “I miss home.” The stimulus or content usually follows the predicate, but individual predicates select different kinds of complements and different prepositions.
This page covers emotions, preferences, evaluations, and mental states. It leaves literal seeing, hearing, and other sensory syntax to perception predicates, although thấy + property is included here when thấy marks a subjective experience such as “feel/find.”
Experiencer first is a strong default with lexical predicates
The contrast with other basic predicates helps identify the frame:
| Clause | Predicate organization |
|---|---|
| Tôi ăn cơm. | actor + action + object |
| Cô ấy là giáo viên. | entity + là + classification |
| Trời lạnh. | entity + property predicate |
| Tôi có một câu hỏi. | possessor + có + possessed item |
| Ở đây có Wi-Fi. | location + có + existing entity |
| Tôi thích công việc này. | experiencer + attitude + stimulus |
Thích, sợ, nhớ, ghét, tiếc, lo, and chán do not conjugate. The same form follows tôi, cô ấy, or họ, and temporal interpretation comes from context, time expressions, or aspectual material.
This is a default for these lexical attitude and emotion predicates, not a universal rule that every psychological clause must begin with the experiencer. A clause that profiles the cause can put the stimulus first and use a causative operator such as làm, as shown later on this page.
Tôi thích quán này vì yên tĩnh và đồ ăn ngon.
I like this café because it's quiet and the food is good.
Hồi nhỏ cô ấy rất sợ chó, nhưng bây giờ thì không.
She was very afraid of dogs as a child, but she isn't now.
Đi xa mới hai ngày mà tôi đã nhớ nhà rồi.
I've only been away for two days and I already miss home.
The past reading in the second example comes from hồi nhỏ “when [she was] little,” not a past ending. Đã ... rồi in the third marks an already-realized state.
Direct noun and verb complements
Some experiencer predicates take a noun phrase directly: thích nhạc jazz “like jazz,” sợ độ cao “fear heights,” nhớ gia đình “miss/remember the family.” Many also take a verb phrase as the content of the feeling, without an infinitive marker.
Tôi thích đi bộ về nhà khi trời mát.
I like walking home when the weather is cool.
Em sợ nói sai nên cứ im lặng.
You're afraid of saying something wrong, so you keep quiet.
Anh có nhớ khóa cửa trước khi đi không?
Did you remember to lock the door before leaving?
The last example shows a lexical ambiguity also found in English: nhớ can mean “remember” or “miss,” depending on its complement and context. Nhớ khóa cửa means retain the intended action in memory; nhớ nhà means feel homesick. The structure, not a change in verb form, resolves the reading.
Predicates that select a preposition or clause
Other predicates conventionally require a relation marker. Learn it with the predicate:
| Predicate frame | Meaning | Typical register |
|---|---|---|
| hài lòng với + noun | be satisfied with | neutral; frequent in formal evaluation |
| quan tâm đến + noun | care about / be interested in | neutral |
| lo về + issue | worry about an issue | neutral |
| lo cho + person | worry for/about a person | neutral |
| ngạc nhiên vì + fact | be surprised because/by | neutral |
| tiếc là + clause | regret that / unfortunately | neutral to formal |
Khách hàng khá hài lòng với cách nhân viên giải quyết vấn đề.
The customer is quite satisfied with how the staff handled the problem.
Tôi lo cho mẹ vì dạo này mẹ hay mất ngủ.
I'm worried about Mom because she has often had trouble sleeping lately.
Chúng tôi rất ngạc nhiên vì anh ấy đến sớm.
We were very surprised that he arrived early.
Tôi tiếc là hôm nay không đi cùng mọi người được.
I'm sorry that I can't go with everyone today.
English uses about in both “worry about the problem” and “worry about Mom.” Vietnamese often distinguishes lo về vấn đề from lo cho mẹ. The choice reflects whether the complement is the topic of concern or the person toward whom concern is directed.
Thấy as subjective experience
In experiencer + thấy + property/evaluation, thấy means approximately “feel,” “find,” or “experience as.” It makes the experiencer’s perspective explicit.
Sau chuyến đi dài, tôi thấy mệt nhưng rất vui.
After the long trip, I feel tired but very happy.
Cô ấy thấy bộ phim này hơi dài.
She finds this film a little long.
Compare bare Bộ phim này hơi dài, which presents “a little long” as a property, with Cô ấy thấy bộ phim này hơi dài, which anchors that judgment in her experience. This evaluative construction is related to perception but does not simply report an act of seeing.
State, onset, and current phase
Experiencer predicates are often stative, but Vietnamese can mark their boundaries or current phase. Đang lo presents worry as currently ongoing; bỗng thấy sợ marks a sudden onset; hết lo marks the end of worry; thích rồi can indicate a newly established liking.
Tôi đang lo về buổi phỏng vấn ngày mai.
I'm worried about tomorrow's interview.
Nghe tiếng động ngoài cửa, cô ấy bỗng thấy sợ.
Hearing a noise outside the door, she suddenly felt afraid.
These words do not conjugate the predicate. They locate a state in its temporal development. This is one reason Vietnamese can be morphologically uninflected yet semantically precise.
Reversing perspective: stimulus plus làm
English often makes the stimulus the subject: “The noise annoys me,” “The result surprised us.” Vietnamese can instead keep the experiencer first—Tôi khó chịu vì tiếng ồn “I am annoyed by the noise”—or use a causative frame stimulus + làm + experiencer + state.
Tiếng nhạc quá to làm tôi khó chịu.
The music being too loud annoys me.
Kết quả đó làm cả nhóm thất vọng.
That result disappointed the whole team.
The causative has four meaningful pieces: cause, làm, experiencer, and result state. Do not insert là before khó chịu or thất vọng. These property/state expressions already head the result predicate.
Eventive experiences with được and bị
Some experiences are construed as events that happen to someone. Được can present a welcome opportunity; bị presents an unwanted experience. Their complements are full event predicates, not inflected forms of an emotion word.
Tôi được gặp cô giáo cũ khi đến Huế.
I got to meet my former teacher when I went to Huế.
Anh ấy bị mọi người hiểu lầm nên rất buồn.
He was misunderstood by everyone, so he was very sad.
These constructions explain circumstances that lead to an experience; they do not replace direct thích, sợ, or nhớ predicates.
A selection guide
| Meaning to express | Likely frame | Example |
|---|---|---|
| preference, fear, memory | experiencer + predicate + NP/VP | Tôi thích đi bộ. |
| stance with selected relation | experiencer + predicate + preposition + complement | Tôi hài lòng với kết quả. |
| subjective evaluation | experiencer + thấy + NP + property | Tôi thấy phòng này tối. |
| experience caused by stimulus | stimulus + làm + experiencer + state | Tiếng ồn làm tôi mệt. |
| reason for an experience | experiencer + state + vì + cause | Tôi buồn vì tin đó. |
| welcome/adverse event | experiencer + được/bị + event | Tôi được gặp cô ấy. |
This (informal) dialogue shifts from direct attitude to subjective evaluation and cause:
A: Cậu có thích công việc mới không? B: Có. Tớ thấy đồng nghiệp rất thân thiện. Chỉ có tiếng ồn trong văn phòng làm tớ hơi mệt thôi.
A: Do you like your new job? B: Yes. I find my coworkers very friendly. It's just that the noise in the office makes me a little tired.
Common Mistakes
1. Copying English stimulus-subject argument structure without làm. Vietnamese needs an experiencer-state or causative frame.
❌ Tiếng ồn khó chịu tôi.
Incorrect — khó chịu does not take the experiencer as a direct object this way.
✅ Tiếng ồn làm tôi khó chịu.
The noise annoys me.
2. Inserting là before an emotion or property predicate. Such predicates stand directly after their subject.
❌ Tôi là lo về buổi phỏng vấn.
Incorrect — lo is already the predicate.
✅ Tôi lo về buổi phỏng vấn.
I'm worried about the interview.
3. Guessing one preposition for every English about. Vietnamese complement selection reflects the relation.
❌ Tôi lo về cho mẹ vì mẹ đang ốm.
Incorrect — về and cho cannot be stacked as one relation marker here.
✅ Tôi lo cho mẹ vì mẹ đang ốm.
I'm worried about Mom because she is ill.
4. Adding an infinitive marker before a verb complement. A Vietnamese verb phrase can follow directly.
❌ Tôi thích để đi bộ về nhà.
Incorrect — để introduces purpose, not an English-style infinitive here.
✅ Tôi thích đi bộ về nhà.
I like walking home.
5. Treating bị as a general marker of involuntary feeling. Direct attitude predicates do not need it.
❌ Tôi bị thích công việc này.
Incorrect — bị cannot be placed before thích merely because a feeling is not fully deliberate.
✅ Tôi thích công việc này.
I like this job.
Key Takeaways
- Vietnamese commonly places the experiencer first and lets each predicate select a noun phrase, verb phrase, clause, or prepositional complement.
- Use stimulus + làm + experiencer + state when profiling the cause, and experiencer + state + vì + cause when profiling the experience.
- Temporal particles can show onset, duration, or completion, but the experiencer predicate itself never conjugates.
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Start learning Vietnamese →Related Topics
- Body-Part Object ConstructionsB2 — How Vietnamese links people to affected body parts without repeating possessive pronouns.
- Perception PredicatesB1 — Use Vietnamese predicates for seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling with the complement frames and aspectual readings they naturally select.
- Mang: Carry, Wear, and BringA2 — Use mang for carrying something with you, bringing it along a path, wearing certain items, and bearing abstract properties.
- Có Thể for Possibility and AbilityA2 — Use có thể for what circumstances make possible, what someone is capable of doing, and what may be true.