Chứ Questions and Expected Agreement | Vietnamese Grammar

A sentence-final question with chứ? normally presents one answer as expected: the speaker seeks agreement, reassurance, permission, or a promised course of action. Anh đi chứ? is therefore not as neutral as “Are you going?” It suggests “You are going, right?” and may carry the speaker’s hope that the answer is yes.

This page deals with chứ as a question particle. Nhỉ and nhé, which invite shared assessment or collaborative alignment with a proposal, are kept for the next page.

The core meaning: you agree, don't you?

The basic pattern is:

proposition or desired action + chứ?

Unlike neutral không?, chứ? places weight on the expected answer. The expectation may be based on shared knowledge, a prior plan, obvious circumstances, or the speaker’s desire.

Mai anh đi cùng chứ?

You're coming along tomorrow, right?

Em nhớ mang hộ chiếu chứ?

You'll remember to bring your passport, right?

Mình có thể ngồi đây chứ?

We can sit here, right?

The third example seeks permission, but its wording leans toward acceptance. In a context where refusal must remain easy—asking a stranger for a substantial favor, for instance—a more open or explicitly polite request may be socially safer.

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Use chứ? when the proposition belongs to the conversational common ground or when you seek reassurance that an expected action will happen. Do not treat it as a neutral yes/no ending.

A decision table

Your communicative goal	Useful form	Example
Ask openly whether something holds	không? / có...không?	Bạn khỏe không? / Anh có đi không?
Verify a belief for accuracy	phải không?	Cuộc họp lúc chín giờ, phải không?
Seek expected agreement or reassurance	chứ?	Anh đi chứ?
Check acceptability with an expected yes	được chứ?	Tôi gọi lại sau được chứ?

The distinction is gradient, not mathematical. Intonation and context can make phải không? sound leading or chứ? sound gentle. Still, the default contrast is useful: phải không checks truth; chứ invokes an expectation of agreement.

Được chứ? and permission

Được chứ? literally centers được, “be possible/allowed/acceptable,” and asks for acceptance. It is common after a proposed action.

Tôi mở cửa sổ được chứ?

May I open the window?

Em nộp bản sửa vào sáng mai được chứ?

Would it be okay if I submitted the revision tomorrow morning?

— Cho mình mượn sạc một lát được chứ? — Được chứ, cứ dùng đi.

— Could I borrow your charger for a bit? — Of course; go ahead and use it.

The answer Được chứ can be stronger than a bare được: it warmly confirms that permission is obvious or readily granted. With irritated intonation, however, it may sound as though the request should never have been doubted. Vietnamese particles do not carry social force independently of voice and relationship.

Reassurance, reminders, and challenges

Several speech acts grow from the same expectation-of-agreement core.

Reassurance

The speaker wants confirmation that a favorable proposition still holds.

Cậu vẫn giúp tớ chiều nay chứ?

You're still helping me this afternoon, right?

Reminder or commitment check

The speaker treats an earlier plan as settled and checks that the listener remembers it.

Anh chưa quên cuộc hẹn tối nay chứ?

You haven't forgotten tonight's appointment, have you?

Challenge to an obvious inference

The proposition is presented as something the listener ought to accept.

Việc quan trọng thế này thì phải báo cho mọi người chứ?

Something this important has to be reported to everyone, surely?

That last use can shade into rhetorical assertion. The speaker is not neutrally polling the listener. This is why chứ? can sound persuasive, impatient, or confrontational when status is unequal or disagreement is sensitive.

Positive and negative propositions

With a positive proposition, chứ? usually expects confirmation of that proposition: Anh đến chứ? expects that he will come. With a negative proposition, it expects the negative proposition to hold: Anh không quên chứ? expects that he has not forgotten.

Question	Expected state	Clear confirming answer
Em đi chứ?	Em will go	Đi chứ.
Em không bận chứ?	Em is not busy	Không bận.
Em làm được chứ?	Em can do it	Làm được.

Notice that a clear answer repeats the predicate rather than mapping mechanically onto English yes and no. If the assumption is wrong, reject it and state the fact: Không, em bận mất rồi (“No, unfortunately I’m busy”).

— Em không dị ứng với đậu phộng chứ? — Có, em bị dị ứng; anh đừng cho vào nhé.

— You're not allergic to peanuts, are you? — I am allergic; please don't put any in.

This exchange shows why a full predicate matters. Có here asserts that the allergy does exist, directly correcting the negative assumption. Em bị dị ứng removes any residual ambiguity.

Word order stays declarative

Vietnamese does not create chứ questions through inversion or an auxiliary equivalent to English do. Wh-words also stay where their semantic role belongs.

Question type	Natural Vietnamese
Neutral state	Bạn khỏe không?
Explicit polar alternatives	Anh có đi không?
Unknown subject	Ai đến?
Unknown destination	Đi đâu?
Neutral confirmation	Phải không?
Expected acceptance	Được chứ?

Chứ also occurs outside questions. Tôi chọn tàu chứ không chọn máy bay contrasts “I choose the train, not the plane,” while Tôi biết chứ! emphatically asserts “Of course I know!” Do not assume every written chứ forms a question. Here the crucial cues are sentence-final position, question intonation, and the interactional request for agreement.

Among friends, Cậu đi chứ? may be a warm invitation seeking reassurance. From a supervisor to an employee, the structurally similar Em làm xong hôm nay chứ? may function almost as a directive. The particle presents completion as expected, so the listener may find refusal difficult.

To leave genuine room for a negative response, state the option explicitly:

Chiều nay em có tham gia được không, hay cần đổi sang ngày khác?

Can you take part this afternoon, or do we need to move it to another day?

In formal or deferential interaction, address terms and ạ can make the utterance polite, but they do not erase the expectation built into chứ. Em gửi hôm nay được chứ ạ? is (polite), yet it still leans toward permission being granted.

Dialogue: agreement is expected, but not guaranteed

— Cuối tuần cậu vẫn đến buổi triển lãm chứ? — Tớ muốn đến lắm, nhưng sáng Chủ nhật tớ phải đi công tác. Chiều tớ ghé được chứ? — Được chứ, bọn tớ ở đó đến sáu giờ.

— You're still coming to the exhibition this weekend, right? — I'd really like to, but I have to travel for work on Sunday morning. I can stop by in the afternoon, right? — Of course; we'll be there until six.

The first chứ seeks reassurance about a shared plan. The friend cannot fully confirm, so the response explains the obstacle rather than forcing a misleading “no.” The second được chứ? requests acceptance of a revised plan; the final Được chứ grants it warmly.

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A listener can answer the presupposition instead of the grammar. If only part of an expected plan still holds, say exactly which part rather than forcing the situation into a bare yes/no response.

Common Mistakes

1. Using chứ for a genuinely open question

❌ Lần đầu gặp: Anh có ăn chay chứ?

Poor choice for a first, genuinely open inquiry — chứ suggests that the speaker already expects a particular answer.

✅ Anh có ăn chay không?

Are you vegetarian?

Use có...không when either answer is equally possible; use chứ when shared context supports an expectation.

2. Adding English do-support

❌ Có anh nhớ cuộc hẹn chứ?

Incorrect — có has been added as an English-style question auxiliary.

✅ Anh nhớ cuộc hẹn chứ?

You remember the appointment, right?

The proposition stays in declarative order and chứ supplies the interactional question force.

3. Fronting the wh-word

❌ Ai cậu đã mời?

Incorrect in the ordinary object question — ai has been fronted under English influence.

✅ Cậu đã mời ai?

Who did you invite?

Ai remains after the verb because it is the object. Once a candidate is known, confirm the proposition: Cậu đã mời Lan chứ?

4. Answering a negative chứ question with an ambiguous yes

❌ — Anh không quên chứ? — Vâng.

Ambiguous — vâng acknowledges the question but does not clearly state whether he forgot.

✅ — Anh không quên chứ? — Không quên đâu, tôi đã ghi vào lịch rồi.

— You haven't forgotten, have you? — I haven't; I've already put it in my calendar.

Repeat the negative predicate so the actual state is unmistakable.

5. Assuming polite words remove pressure

Anh phải ký ngay bây giờ chứ ạ?

You have to sign right now, correct? This is grammatical, but socially pressuring if genuine consent is required.

✅ Anh muốn ký bây giờ hay cần thêm thời gian ạ?

Would you like to sign now, or do you need more time?

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Polite ạ marks deference; it does not cancel the expectation carried by chứ. The alternative makes both options explicit and is better when the listener must be free to decline.

Key Takeaways

Sentence-final chứ? seeks an answer that the speaker treats as expected, desirable, or supported by shared knowledge.
Được chứ? asks for expected acceptance; Được chứ as an answer can grant permission warmly.
Positive and negative propositions keep their polarity. Repeat the predicate in the answer to avoid English yes/no ambiguity.
Social context matters: expected agreement can create solidarity, but it can also create pressure.

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