Questions with Không

Vietnamese can turn a statement into a neutral yes-no question by placing không after the predicate: Bạn khỏe “You are well” becomes Bạn khỏe không? “Are you well?” Word order inside the clause stays the same, and the verb or adjective does not change form.

This page concentrates on the compact pattern clause + không? The fuller frame có...không? has its own explanation on Có...Không Questions.

The basic pattern

Use:

subject + predicate + không?

The predicate may be an adjective-like property, an activity, or a phrase with an object. Vietnamese does not add an equivalent of English do/does/did.

In Bạn khỏe không?, final không opens two possibilities: khỏe or không khỏe. Because Vietnamese predicates do not conjugate for person, tense, or question formation, the statement order is preserved.

What belongs before không?

Place không after the material that belongs to the questioned predicate. An object normally stays next to its verb.

Context supplies distinctions that English expresses with tense or auxiliaries. Anh uống cà phê không? can ask about a habit or offer coffee in the immediate situation. A time phrase can narrow the intended reading.

Final không asks an open polar question. By contrast, Buổi sáng anh uống cà phê à? commonly reacts to or checks newly learned information: “Oh, you drink coffee in the morning?” Particle choice is therefore not mechanical.

A compact question-choice table

The minimal set shows one general principle: Vietnamese question forms remain close to statement order, but the final frame tells the listener what kind of answer is relevant. Không? opens a positive/negative choice. Phải không? requests confirmation. Chứ? often seeks agreement or permission with a stronger expectation.

Không questions and có...không questions

The compact form and the full frame often overlap:

Anh đi không? is common and direct in conversation. Anh có đi không? marks both poles explicitly and can sound more complete when the decision itself is at issue. The exact preference varies with rhythm, predicate type, and context; this is not a difference in tense.

With a simple property, the compact form is especially natural: Bạn khỏe không? “Are you well?”, Nhà xa không? “Is the house far?”, and Món này ngon không? “Is this dish good?” The fuller có...không? alternative is discussed on the dedicated page.

Answers should echo the predicate

Vietnamese often answers with the predicate itself or its negative, not only with words equivalent to yes and no.

Echoing cay, không đi, or không mệt makes the proposition explicit. In polite interaction, add the appropriate response and deference markers:

The server's ạ marks respect toward bác. The customer answers with a full predicate rather than a potentially abrupt standalone không.

Do not move question words

The word order principle also applies to information questions. Vietnamese normally leaves the question word where the missing information belongs—often called wh-in-situ.

English moves where to the front and adds do: “Where do you go?” Vietnamese simply replaces the destination in Anh đi Hà Nội with đâu: Anh đi đâu? Do not add final không to an ordinary ai/gì/nào/đâu/sao/bao giờ/bao nhiêu information question, because it already asks for specific missing information.

Alternatives and confirmation are different questions

An alternative question names the choices with hay “or,” rather than adding final không.

This asks which drink, not whether drinking occurs. A confirmation tag such as phải không? starts from a proposition the speaker thinks may be true:

And chứ? can seek acceptance or signal that the speaker expects a positive answer:

Using không? instead makes the positive and negative possibilities more open: Tối nay anh đến được không? “Can you come tonight?”

Negative questions and unambiguous answers

If a question itself contains negation, English-speaking learners can transfer the wrong yes/no logic. Vietnamese có normally asserts the positive proposition and không the negative one, regardless of whether the question was worded positively or negatively. Echoing the positive or negative predicate makes the intended state explicit.

Vẫn đi rejects the negative assumption. Chưa ăn confirms that breakfast remains incomplete. This is clearer than transferring an English yes or no whose interpretation depends on dialect and viewpoint.

A natural dialogue

Final không opens the decision; chứ gives the enthusiastic answer “of course”; được không? asks acceptability; and ở đâu? requests a location without moving đâu to the front.

Common Mistakes

1. Adding English do-support.

2. Moving a question word to the front by default.

3. Putting không before the predicate in a polar question.

4. Adding final không to an information question.

5. Answering a negative question with an unanchored yes/no.

Key Takeaways

• Form a compact polar question with subject + predicate + không?
• Keep declarative order; Vietnamese uses neither inversion nor English-style do.
• Leave ai, gì, nào, đâu, sao, bao giờ, and bao nhiêu in the position of the missing information.
• Use hay for named alternatives, phải không? for confirmation, and chứ? when seeking expected agreement.
• Answer negative questions by echoing the positive or negative predicate.