Lan muốn cưới An.

The word order is:

subject + modal/attitude verb + main verb + object

So here:

• Lan = subject
• muốn = want / wants to
• cưới = marry
• An = object

That is why the sentence literally lines up as:

Lan / wants / marry / An

This is very similar to English word order, except Vietnamese does not need to before the second verb.

In Vietnamese, after verbs like muốn (want), the next verb usually comes directly after it.

So:

• muốn cưới = want to marry
• muốn ăn = want to eat
• muốn đi = want to go

English uses to in this kind of structure, but Vietnamese normally does not. So muốn + verb is a very common pattern.

Muốn means want, would like, or desire, depending on context.

In this sentence, it works like wants to:

• Lan muốn cưới An = Lan wants to marry An

It is not marked for person, so muốn itself does not change the way English verbs do:

• tôi muốn = I want
• Lan muốn = Lan wants
• họ muốn = they want

Vietnamese verbs do not change form based on the subject.

Cưới commonly means to marry or to take as a spouse.

In many everyday contexts, cưới ai means marry someone:

• Lan muốn cưới An = Lan wants to marry An

A useful note: Vietnamese also has other marriage-related expressions, such as:

• lấy = also often used for marry
• kết hôn với = to get married to, more formal or neutral

So cưới is natural and common, but it is not the only verb Vietnamese can use for marry.

You know from word order.

• Lan comes first, so Lan is the subject: the person who wants.
• An comes after cưới, so An is the object: the person Lan wants to marry.

So this sentence means:

Lan wants to marry An, not An wants to marry Lan.

Vietnamese does not use case endings like some languages do, so word order is very important.

By itself, the sentence does not explicitly mark tense.

Lan muốn cưới An can be understood as something like:

• Lan wants to marry An
• Lan would like to marry An
• depending on context, even Lan intends to marry An

Vietnamese often leaves time reference to context. If you want to make time clearer, you can add time words or markers:

• Lan đã muốn cưới An = Lan wanted to marry An / had wanted to marry An
• Lan sẽ cưới An = Lan will marry An
• Lan muốn cưới An vào năm sau = Lan wants to marry An next year

So tense in Vietnamese is often optional and context-driven.

The grammar itself does not mark gender.

A native speaker may have expectations based on common Vietnamese names:

• Lan is very commonly a female name
• An can be male or female

But grammatically, the sentence structure does not depend on gender. Vietnamese does not change the verb based on whether the person is male or female.

So from grammar alone, the sentence simply says one person named Lan wants to marry another person named An.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• muốn ≈ something like moo-uhn with a rising tone
• cưới ≈ roughly koo-ee or kuh-ee blended together, also with a rising tone

A few helpful points:

• Both muốn and cưới have the sắc tone, which is a rising tone.
• ư is not the same as English u. It is a central vowel that English does not really have.
• ươ in cưới can be difficult for English speakers and usually takes practice.

If you are learning pronunciation seriously, it helps to listen to native audio, because the tones matter a lot for being understood.

Vietnamese does not use articles the same way English does.

Proper names like Lan and An normally appear without anything like the or a. So:

• Lan = Lan
• An = An

That is completely normal. Vietnamese also often handles definiteness and indefiniteness differently from English more generally.

Yes, in the right context, Vietnamese often omits the subject if it is already clear.

For example, in conversation, if everyone knows you are talking about Lan, someone might just say:

• Muốn cưới An.

That could mean [She] wants to marry An if the subject is understood from context.

But in a full, standalone sentence, including Lan makes it clear and natural.

Often yes, but the nuance can differ depending on region, context, and speaker.

For example:

• Lan muốn lấy An can also mean Lan wants to marry An

In everyday Vietnamese, lấy is very common for marry.
Cưới is also common, but it can sometimes feel a bit more connected to the act of wedding/marrying.

If you want a safer, more neutral expression in some contexts, you can also learn:

• muốn kết hôn với An = wants to get married to An

So cưới is correct and natural here, but it is useful to know there are alternatives.

Yes. Lan muốn cưới An. is a complete, natural, grammatical sentence.

It has everything needed:

• a subject: Lan
• a verb of desire: muốn
• a main verb: cưới
• an object: An

It is short, direct, and very normal Vietnamese.