Họ nghi người này.

Here họ is the subject pronoun meaning they.

A few useful notes:

• It is third person plural.
• It does not show gender, so it can mean they for any group.
• In other contexts, họ can also mean family line / surname / clan, but not in this sentence. Here it is clearly a pronoun.

So the basic structure begins with họ = they.

Yes. Nghi is a verb here.

In this sentence, it means to suspect. It directly takes an object:

• nghi + person/thing

So in Họ nghi người này, the verb is followed directly by the person being suspected.

This is similar to English suspect someone, although Vietnamese does not change the verb form for tense or subject.

Mostly yes. This sentence follows a very familiar Subject–Verb–Object order:

• Họ = subject
• nghi = verb
• người này = object

So the structure is:

• They + suspect + this person

That makes this sentence relatively straightforward for English speakers.

Because in Vietnamese, demonstratives like this and that usually come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• người này = this person
• literally: person this

This is a very common Vietnamese pattern:

• nhà này = this house
• xe đó = that vehicle/car
• cuốn sách kia = that book over there

So người này is exactly what you should expect.

Here người is simply the noun person.

So:

• người = person
• này = this

Together: người này = this person

It is not a classifier here. It is the main noun itself.

If Vietnamese wanted to be more specific, it could use a more detailed noun phrase, for example:

• người đàn ông này = this man
• người phụ nữ này = this woman

But người này is perfectly grammatical and means this person.

Yes, người này is normally understood as singular: this person.

If you want these people, Vietnamese usually makes the noun phrase plural more clearly, for example:

• những người này = these people
• mấy người này = these people / these few people

So:

• Họ nghi người này = They suspect this person.
• Họ nghi những người này = They suspect these people.

Vietnamese often leaves number unmarked unless it needs to be clearer.

Vietnamese verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So nghi by itself does not tell you whether the action is present, past, or future. The time is usually understood from:

• context
• time words
• aspect markers

For example:

• Họ đã nghi người này. = They suspected this person. / They have suspected this person.
• Họ đang nghi người này. = They are suspecting this person.
• Họ sẽ nghi người này. = They will suspect this person.

Without a time marker, Họ nghi người này is a neutral statement, often understood from context.

They are related, but not always identical in feel.

• nghi is shorter and more compact.
• nghi ngờ is very common and can feel a bit fuller or more explicit as to suspect / to be suspicious of / to doubt.

In many situations, both can work:

• Họ nghi người này.
• Họ nghi ngờ người này.

Depending on context, nghi ngờ may sound a bit more natural in everyday speech, while nghi can sound more concise or written. But nghi is still a valid verb.

A very common learner question.

Nghi begins with the ng sound, like the end of English sing, but placed at the beginning of the syllable.

So nghi sounds roughly like ngee.

Why ngh and not just ng?

That is mostly a spelling rule in Vietnamese:

• Before i, e, ê, Vietnamese writes ngh
• Before other vowels, it usually writes ng

For example:

• nghi
• nghe
• nghề
• but nga, ngo, ngu

So the sound is not special because of the h; the h is mainly there because of spelling conventions.

A simple learner-friendly approximation is:

• Họ — like haw with a heavy falling/glottalized tone
• nghi — like ngee
• người — a difficult Vietnamese vowel; roughly ng-uh-ee blended together
• này — roughly nai with a falling tone

Important tone notes:

• họ has a nặng tone
• nghi has a level tone
• người has a huyền tone
• này has a huyền tone

If pronunciation is a priority, người is probably the hardest word in the sentence for most English speakers.

It is grammatical and natural enough, but in real conversation Vietnamese often uses a more specific noun if the speaker knows who the person is.

For example:

• anh này = this guy / this man
• cô này = this woman / this young woman
• ông này = this man / this older man
• bà này = this woman / this older woman

So người này is a general, neutral way to say this person, but more specific alternatives are often used in real-life speech when age, gender, or social relationship is clear.