Có...Không Questions | Vietnamese Grammar

The frame có...không? asks whether a proposition holds: Anh có đi không? “Are you going?” Preverbal có presents the positive possibility, while final không presents its negative counterpart. Everything between them stays in ordinary statement order.

This page treats the full polar frame. The shorter predicate + không? pattern appears on Questions with Không, and completion questions with đã...chưa? belong to Đã...Chưa Questions.

Forming the full frame

Use:

subject + có + predicate + không?

The predicate can be a verb phrase, an adjective-like property, or a modal expression. Vietnamese neither moves the verb nor adds an auxiliary equivalent to English do.

Anh có đi không?

Are you going?

Em có thích món này không?

Do you like this dish?

Ngoài trời có lạnh không?

Is it cold outside?

The có in this question frame is not a tense marker. It does not mean that the event is past, present, or future. A time phrase supplies the relevant time:

Ngày mai chị có làm việc không?

Are you working tomorrow?

Hôm qua anh có gặp Mai không?

Did you meet Mai yesterday?

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Think of có...không? as “positive possibility...negative possibility?” It frames a choice, not a conjugation.

What có means—and what it does not mean

Vietnamese also has lexical có meaning “have” or “exist.” Context and the rest of the clause distinguish that word from question-frame có.

Chị có xe không?

Do you have a vehicle?

This sentence can be analyzed transparently as “you have a vehicle or not?” The first có is the predicate “have,” while final không marks the polar question. Speakers do not add another có to produce an artificial chị có có xe không in ordinary speech.

Compare a verbal predicate:

Chị có lái xe không?

Do you drive?

Here preverbal có forms the positive pole around lái xe “drive.” It does not independently mean possession.

Full frame versus compact final không

Many everyday questions allow both forms:

Anh đi không?

Are you going? (compact, conversational)

Anh có đi không?

Are you going? (full polar frame)

The full frame explicitly packages the proposition as a yes-no choice and can help with a longer predicate. The compact form can sound brisker or more immediate. There is no universal difference of politeness or tense; speakers select a rhythm and stance appropriate to the situation.

For properties, both are common:

Món này cay không?

Is this dish spicy? (compact)

Món này có cay không?

Is this dish spicy? (full polar frame)

The second can place a little more focus on whether spiciness holds at all. The difference is subtle and contextual, not a separate grammatical tense.

A question-type decision table

Form	What it asks	Typical answer
Bạn khỏe không?	neutral compact polar question	Khỏe. / Không khỏe lắm.
Anh có đi không?	full positive-versus-negative question	Có, tôi đi. / Không, tôi không đi.
Ai đến?	identity of the person	Lan đến.
Anh đi đâu?	destination	Tôi đi Huế.
Anh là Nam, phải không?	confirmation of a belief	Đúng rồi. / Không phải.
Tôi mở cửa sổ nhé?	alignment with a proposed action	Ừ, mở đi. / Khoan đã.
Tôi ngồi đây được chứ?	permission with expected acceptance	Được chứ.

The frame có...không? is relatively open about which pole will be true. Phải không? starts from a proposition the speaker expects may be correct. Chứ? often seeks confirmation or permission while leaning toward a positive response. Particle choice therefore communicates expectations and interpersonal stance.

Answers: có, không, and predicate echo

A simple question can receive có “yes” or không “no,” but echoing the predicate is often more informative and natural.

— Em có mang ô không? — Có, em để trong ba lô rồi.

— Did you bring an umbrella? — Yes, I put it in my backpack.

— Anh có dùng đường không? — Không, tôi uống cà phê đen.

— Do you use sugar? — No, I drink black coffee.

— Cô có cần cháu giúp không ạ? — Có, cháu giữ cửa giúp cô nhé.

— Do you need me to help, ma'am? — Yes, please hold the door for me. (deferential)

In the third example, kinship-style terms cô/cháu encode the relationship. Ạ makes the younger person's question deferential, and nhé makes the requested help cooperative. The grammar of the polar frame is unchanged, but its social force is calibrated elsewhere.

With negative questions, Vietnamese có still asserts the positive proposition and không the negative one. English-speaking learners may nevertheless map a bare reply onto agreement or disagreement with the question's wording, so echo the proposition while building reliable habits:

— Anh không có vé à? — Tôi có vé; vé ở trong điện thoại.

— Don't you have a ticket? — I do; it's on my phone.

This explicitly rejects the negative assumption.

Time, aspect, and the limit of có...không

The frame itself does not locate an event in time. Add hôm qua, bây giờ, ngày mai, or an aspect-time marker when needed.

Lúc tôi gọi, chị có đang lái xe không?

When I called, were you driving?

Tuần sau anh có sang Đà Nẵng không?

Are you going to Đà Nẵng next week?

When the central issue is whether an expected event is already complete, Vietnamese normally uses đã...chưa?, not generic có...không?:

Em đã gửi email chưa?

Have you sent the email yet?

Em có gửi email không? instead asks whether sending occurs, occurred, or is intended in the relevant context. It does not inherently contain the “by now / yet” expectation.

Information questions keep the missing element in place

The declarative-order principle extends beyond polar questions. Vietnamese normally leaves ai, gì, nào, đâu, sao, bao giờ, and bao nhiêu in the position where the answer would appear.

Ai đến đón em?

Who is coming to pick you up?

Anh mua gì ở chợ?

What did you buy at the market?

Cuối tuần này chị đi đâu?

Where are you going this weekend?

Do not wrap an ordinary information question in có...không. Anh có đi đâu không? is grammatical, but it means “Are you going anywhere?”—a polar question about the existence of some destination—not “Where are you going?”

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Question words and polar frames can coexist only when the meanings genuinely combine. Anh đi đâu? asks where; Anh có đi đâu không? asks whether he goes anywhere at all.

Alternative questions

If you name the alternatives, link them with hay “or” and do not add the ordinary final polar không.

Anh đi tàu hay đi máy bay?

Are you going by train or by plane?

Chị muốn ngồi trong nhà hay ngoài sân?

Would you like to sit inside or in the courtyard?

These questions ask the listener to choose one named option. Anh có đi tàu không? instead asks whether train travel is true, with “not by train” as the other pole.

A natural dialogue

— Cuối tuần này anh có về quê không? — Có, sáng thứ Bảy anh về.

— Are you going back to your hometown this weekend? — Yes, I'm going Saturday morning.

— Anh có đi xe máy không? — Không, anh đi tàu vì trời có thể mưa.

— Are you going by motorbike? — No, I'm taking the train because it may rain.

— Em có muốn đi cùng không? — Có chứ. Mình gặp nhau ở đâu?

— Do you want to come along? — Of course. Where shall we meet?

The first two có...không frames make open polar choices. Có chứ is an emphatic positive answer that treats agreement as expected, and ở đâu? then asks for missing location information in situ.

Common Mistakes

1. Translating English do-support with làm.

❌ Anh có làm thích món này không?

Incorrect — làm cannot represent auxiliary ‘do’ in question formation.

✅ Anh có thích món này không?

Do you like this dish?

2. Moving có or the verb as if Vietnamese used inversion.

❌ Có anh đi ngày mai không?

Incorrect for neutral ‘Are you going tomorrow?’; this order changes the information structure.

✅ Ngày mai anh có đi không?

Are you going tomorrow?

3. Moving an information word to English sentence-initial position.

❌ Đâu chị mua vé?

Incorrect neutral order — đâu belongs in the location slot.

✅ Chị mua vé ở đâu?

Where did you buy the ticket?

4. Using có...không for a by-now completion question.

❌ Em có làm xong bài chưa không?

Incorrect — two polar frames have been stacked.

✅ Em đã làm xong bài chưa?

Have you finished the assignment yet?

5. Adding không to a named alternative question.

❌ Chị uống trà hay cà phê không?

Wrong for a simple choice between tea and coffee; final không creates an unclear extra alternative.

✅ Chị uống trà hay cà phê?

Will you have tea or coffee?

Key Takeaways

Use subject + có + predicate + không? for a full polar question.
The frame does not mark tense; time phrases and aspect markers do that work.
Compact predicate + không? often overlaps with the full frame, especially in conversation.
Use đã...chưa? when the key issue is completion by now.
Keep question words in situ, and use hay—not an extra không—for named alternatives.

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