Questions & Answers about Ly này có nước.
What does ly mean here? Is it a cup or a glass?
Ly usually means a drinking glass or sometimes a cup, depending on context. In this sentence, the most natural understanding is glass.
A very natural English translation is:
- This glass has water in it.
- or more naturally, There is water in this glass.
Regional note:
- In southern Vietnamese, ly is very common for glass/cup.
- In northern Vietnamese, people often say cốc for a drinking cup or glass.
Why does này come after ly? I expected this glass, not glass this.
In Vietnamese, demonstratives like này (this) usually come after the noun.
So:
- ly này = this glass
- literally: glass this
This is a very common Vietnamese pattern:
- nhà này = this house
- người này = this person
- xe này = this vehicle/car/bike
So ly này is completely normal word order in Vietnamese.
What does có mean here?