Vietnamese làm can mean “do,” “make,” or “work,” but those English translations hide its most useful property: làm often supplies the event structure while the expression after it says what activity, role, or result is involved. It is therefore both an ordinary lexical verb and a productive light verb. Like every Vietnamese predicate, it stays in one form: person, number, and tense never add an ending to làm.
This page concentrates on làm. The possession and existence verb có, especially before event nouns, has its own page on light verb có and event nouns.
First identify the predicate type
The following basic clauses show why “verb” cannot mean “a word that conjugates” in Vietnamese. An event verb, a copular noun predicate, a property predicate, possession, and existence all use different structures, but none has subject agreement.
| Clause | Predicate type | What to notice |
|---|---|---|
| Tôi ăn cơm. | event: “eat” | ăn directly heads the predicate |
| Cô ấy là giáo viên. | classification: “be a teacher” | là links a subject to a noun phrase |
| Trời lạnh. | property/state: “be cold” | lạnh needs no copula |
| Tôi có một câu hỏi. | possession | có relates a possessor to something possessed |
| Ở đây có Wi-Fi. | existence at a location | the location normally comes before có |
| Tôi làm bài tập. | light-verb event | làm turns “assignment” into “do an assignment” |
Làm plus an activity or product
With an activity noun, làm contributes the general meaning “carry out.” With something that comes into existence, it is closer to “make.” The boundary is lexical rather than mechanical, so learn common combinations as units: làm việc “work,” làm bài tập “do homework,” làm bánh “make cakes,” and làm giỗ “hold a death-anniversary observance.”
Sáng nay tôi làm việc ở nhà, chiều mới đến công ty.
This morning I'm working from home; I'll only go to the office in the afternoon.
Em làm xong bài tập chưa, hay vẫn còn một bài nữa?
Have you finished your homework, or is there still one exercise left?
Cuối tuần này mẹ làm bánh sinh nhật cho bà ngoại.
This weekend Mom is making a birthday cake for Grandma.
There is no past or future morphology on làm. Sáng nay, chiều, context, and aspect/result words such as đã, đang, sẽ, xong, and rồi locate the event. Compare the same invariant predicate:
Tôi đã làm xong báo cáo rồi.
I've finished the report.
Tôi đang làm báo cáo; lát nữa gọi lại nhé.
I'm working on the report; call me back in a little while.
The noun after làm is not freely interchangeable with any English object of do or make. Làm quyết định, for example, is not the normal equivalent of “make a decision”; Vietnamese normally uses quyết định as a verb or the collocation đưa ra quyết định. The dedicated page on verb–noun collocations explains that lexical choice.
Làm plus a profession or role
Before a profession, làm means “work as” or “take the role of.” This is eventive: it describes what someone does. Là classifies or identifies the person. The two often describe the same real-world person but answer different questions.
Chị Mai là bác sĩ, nhưng hiện giờ chị đang làm quản lý bệnh viện.
Mai is a doctor, but she is currently working as a hospital administrator.
Anh làm nghề gì? — Tôi làm kỹ sư xây dựng.
What do you do for a living? — I work as a civil engineer.
With a temporary function, làm + role is especially natural: làm trưởng nhóm “serve as team leader,” làm phiên dịch “work as an interpreter.” There is no need for là inside this frame.
Làm as a causative: cause a result
In the frame X làm Y + predicate, X causes Y to enter a state or undergo an event. Simple làm is especially natural when the second predicate describes a non-volitional reaction, change, or result: buồn “sad,” thức giấc “wake up,” or ngã “fall.” A deliberately controlled action by Y more readily takes làm cho, as explained below. This is not the same as mechanically translating English make plus a bare infinitive; Vietnamese complement type and word order matter.
Tin đó làm tôi buồn cả ngày.
That news made me sad all day.
Tiếng chuông làm em bé thức giấc.
The bell woke the baby up.
Tôi làm vỡ cốc rồi; để tôi dọn nhé.
I broke the glass; let me clean it up.
The last example has the compact resultative order làm + result + affected thing: làm vỡ cốc, literally “cause-break the glass.” With a separately expressed experiencer or causee, the order is instead làm + affected participant + predicate, as in làm tôi buồn and làm em bé thức giấc. These two patterns should not be collapsed into one English word-for-word template.
Làm cho makes the causative relation explicit and is available with both changes of state and controlled actions. Cho here belongs to the causative construction; it does not mean that the event is a gift.
Việc đổi giờ họp làm cho nhiều người đến muộn.
Changing the meeting time caused many people to arrive late.
Huấn luyện viên làm cho cả đội chạy thêm hai vòng.
The coach made the whole team run two more laps.
The shorter làm nhiều người đến muộn is also possible because arriving late is construed as a resulting event. Do not infer that cho can always be dropped before a deliberately controlled action such as chạy thêm hai vòng. Neither làm nor làm cho is a tense marker, and neither changes form.
Lexical result combinations
Some frequent làm + result combinations are conventional enough to learn whole. Làm mất means “cause to be lost,” commonly with an accidental reading; làm hỏng means “damage/spoil,” and làm rõ means “clarify.” The result predicate remains meaningful, while làm introduces a causer.
Tôi làm mất chìa khóa nên không vào nhà được.
I lost my keys, so I couldn't get into the house.
Bản đồ này làm rõ đường đi từ ga đến khách sạn.
This map makes the route from the station to the hotel clear.
Notice how được in the first example expresses successful ability (“manage to get in”), not passive voice. Elsewhere bị can present an adverse event, but neither được nor bị is an ending on làm.
A compact decision aid
| Intended meaning | Useful frame | Example |
|---|---|---|
| carry out an established activity | làm + activity noun | làm việc, làm bài tập |
| produce something | làm + product | làm bánh, làm đồ chơi |
| work or serve in a role | làm + profession/role | làm bác sĩ, làm trưởng nhóm |
| cause someone/something to change | làm (cho) + affected participant + predicate | làm tôi vui, làm cho máy chạy |
| identify or classify, not describe work | là + noun phrase | cô ấy là giáo viên |
| describe a property | property predicate directly | trời lạnh |
In this (informal) exchange, the complement changes how làm is understood:
A: Hôm nay anh làm gì? B: Sáng tôi làm việc ở nhà, chiều làm bánh với con. A: Thế ai làm bếp bừa bộn thế này? B: Chắc tôi làm đổ bột rồi!
A: What are you doing today? B: In the morning I'm working from home, and in the afternoon I'm making cakes with my child. A: Then who made the kitchen this messy? B: I guess I spilled the flour!
The first làm gì asks about an action, làm việc names an activity, làm bánh names production, and làm đổ introduces an accidental result. The verb itself never changes; its complement controls the interpretation.
Common Mistakes
1. Inserting là before every English adjective. Vietnamese property words can head predicates directly.
❌ Hôm nay căn phòng là lạnh.
Incorrect — là does not normally introduce the property predicate lạnh.
✅ Hôm nay căn phòng lạnh.
The room is cold today.
2. Putting là inside the occupational làm frame. Choose classification or work, not an English-style double copula.
❌ Tôi làm là giáo viên ở trường này.
Incorrect — làm and là have been stacked without a grammatical reason.
✅ Tôi làm giáo viên ở trường này.
I work as a teacher at this school.
3. Copying English make someone to do. The affected participant is followed directly by its predicate.
❌ Tiếng động lớn làm em bé để thức giấc.
Incorrect — the English infinitival frame has been copied into Vietnamese.
✅ Tiếng động lớn làm em bé thức giấc.
The loud noise woke the baby up.
4. Adding an agreement or past ending. Vietnamese uses separate time/aspect material.
❌ Hôm qua tôi làmed việc ở nhà.
Incorrect — Vietnamese làm never takes the English past ending -ed.
✅ Hôm qua tôi làm việc ở nhà.
Yesterday I worked from home.
Key Takeaways
- Làm + activity/product builds actions, while làm + role means “work or serve as.”
- Làm (cho) + affected participant + predicate introduces a causer and a resulting state or event.
- Làm never conjugates; time, aspect, complements, and discourse context supply the distinctions English often encodes on the verb.
Now practice Vietnamese
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Start learning Vietnamese →Related Topics
- Weather and Environmental PredicatesA2 — Describe weather and surroundings with direct Vietnamese predicates, optional environmental subjects, and no English-style dummy it or obligatory be.
- Light Verb Có and Event NounsB2 — How có presents possession, existence, states, and events through nominal complements.
- Change-of-State PredicatesB1 — Express becoming, entering a result, gradual change, and return to an earlier state with Vietnamese lexical and directional constructions.
- Tới: Reach and Prospective BoundaryA2 — Use tới for reaching endpoints, extending to limits, marking whose turn has arrived, and framing the time ahead.