Đừng hại người.

Đừng is used to make a negative command or negative request. It means something like don’t in English.

So the pattern is:

đừng + verb

Examples:

• Đừng nói. = Don’t speak.
• Đừng đi. = Don’t go.
• Đừng hại người. = Don’t harm people / others.

It is one of the most common ways to tell someone not to do something.

Because không usually means not in statements, not in commands.

Compare:

• Tôi không biết. = I do not know.
• Anh ấy không đi. = He is not going.

But if you want to tell someone don’t do X, Vietnamese normally uses đừng, not không:

• Đừng đi. = Don’t go.
• Đừng hại người. = Don’t harm others.

So for negative imperatives, đừng is the natural choice.

Hại means to harm, to injure, or to damage, often in a fairly serious sense.

It can refer to:

• physical harm
• emotional harm
• moral or social harm
• causing trouble or damage to someone

So hại người is stronger than something mild like bothering someone. It suggests real harm or wrongdoing.

You may also see it in words and phrases like:

• có hại = harmful
• hại người = harm people / harm others
• hại mình hại người = harm yourself and others

In this sentence, người is a general noun meaning person / people / others, depending on context.

In hại người, it often has a broad sense:

• harm people
• harm another person
• harm others

Vietnamese often leaves this kind of noun general and does not always specify singular or plural the way English does.

So người here does not have to mean exactly one person. It can be understood more generally as other human beings.

Because Vietnamese often leaves out the subject in commands when it is obvious.

English usually says:

• Don’t harm people.

The subject you is understood, even though it is not spoken. Vietnamese works the same way:

• Đừng hại người.

The understood subject is you, but it does not need to be said.

If you want, you can add a pronoun for emphasis or clarity:

• Anh đừng hại người.
• Em đừng hại người.
• Mày đừng hại người.

But the basic sentence without a pronoun is completely normal.

Vietnamese word order here is straightforward:

đừng + verb + object

So:

• đừng = don’t
• hại = harm
• người = people / others

That gives: Đừng hại người.

This is similar to normal Vietnamese sentence order, where the verb usually comes before its object:

• ăn cơm = eat rice
• uống nước = drink water
• giúp người = help people
• hại người = harm people

Yes, it is natural, but it sounds serious and a bit moralistic or warning-like.

It feels like something you might hear in:

• advice
• moral teachings
• proverbs
• serious warnings
• dramatic dialogue

It is not the most casual everyday sentence, because hại is a strong word. In ordinary conversation, people might use softer or more specific verbs depending on the situation.

For example:

• Đừng làm phiền người ta. = Don’t bother people.
• Đừng đánh người. = Don’t hit people.
• Đừng làm tổn thương người khác. = Don’t hurt others.

So Đừng hại người is correct and natural, but it carries weight.

Yes, Đừng làm hại người is also correct.

Compare:

• Đừng hại người.
• Đừng làm hại người.

Both mean roughly the same thing, but làm hại is a very common two-word verb meaning to do harm to or to harm. It can sound slightly fuller or more explicit.

Very roughly:

• hại = harm
• làm hại = do harm to / harm

In many situations, they are interchangeable.
However, làm hại may sound a bit more natural to some speakers in everyday usage, while hại người can sound compact, sharp, and sometimes more literary or idiomatic.

Yes, the idea overlaps, but they are not exactly the same.

• người = person / people / others
• người ta = other people / people / them
• người khác = other people / someone else

So these are all possible:

• Đừng hại người.
• Đừng hại người ta.
• Đừng hại người khác.

Differences:

• Đừng hại người is short and general.
• Đừng hại người ta can feel more conversational, depending on context.
• Đừng hại người khác clearly means don’t harm other people.

If you want the clearest everyday version for others, người khác is often very helpful.

A careful approximation is:

Đừng hại người
≈ dung hai nguoi

But the tones are very important:

• Đừng has a low/falling quality with the huyền tone.
• hại has the heavy nặng tone, short and low.
• người has the huyền tone on ười.

A more tone-aware approximation:

• đừng → like dung said with a low falling tone
• hại → like high but cut short and dropped low
• người → roughly ngwee-uhy, with a falling tone

If a learner says the consonants correctly but ignores the tones, Vietnamese listeners may have trouble understanding, so tones matter a lot here.

By itself, it is fairly neutral in grammar, but the feeling depends on context and tone of voice.

Because it is a direct command, it can sound:

• firm
• serious
• admonishing
• moral

It is not automatically rude, but it is definitely direct.

If you want to soften it, you could add polite wording or use a gentler structure, for example:

• Xin đừng hại người. = Please don’t harm others.
• Đừng hại người nhé. = Don’t harm others, okay?
• Đừng làm hại người khác nhé. = Don’t hurt other people, okay?

So the bare sentence is correct, but not especially soft.