Trần nhà hôm qua không hề bị dột.

Trần nhà normally means ceiling, the inside top surface of a room.

• trần nhà = ceiling
• mái nhà = roof

However, with dột (to leak, especially rainwater leaking through a roof/ceiling), English may sometimes translate the whole idea more naturally as the roof was leaking or the ceiling was leaking, depending on context. Vietnamese often focuses on the part inside the house that is affected, so trần nhà bị dột is completely normal.

Vietnamese time expressions are fairly flexible. Hôm qua can appear in different places:

• Hôm qua, trần nhà không hề bị dột.
• Trần nhà hôm qua không hề bị dột.
• Trần nhà không hề bị dột hôm qua.

All are possible, but they can sound slightly different in emphasis.

In your sentence, trần nhà comes first as the topic, and hôm qua adds the time right after that. Putting hôm qua at the beginning is also very common, especially if you want to set the time frame first.

Không hề is a stronger negation than plain không.

• không = not
• không hề = not at all, absolutely not

So:

• Trần nhà không bị dột = The ceiling wasn’t leaking.
• Trần nhà không hề bị dột = The ceiling wasn’t leaking at all.

Also, hề is usually used in negative expressions like:

• không hề
• chẳng hề
• chưa hề

You generally would not use hề by itself.

Bị often marks that something undergoes an unwanted event or bad condition. It is somewhat like a passive marker, but it is not exactly the same as the English passive.

Here, bị dột means to be affected by leaking or to suffer from leaking.

So:

• bị adds the idea that the ceiling is experiencing an undesirable problem.
• It makes the sentence feel more natural when talking about damage or trouble.

Compare:

• Trần nhà dột. = The ceiling leaks / is leaky.
• Trần nhà bị dột. = The ceiling is affected by leaking / has a leak problem.

Both can work, but bị highlights the negative condition.

It behaves a bit like both, which is very common in Vietnamese.

Dột can describe a state or condition: leaky, or to leak. In many Vietnamese grammar explanations, words like this are often called stative verbs.

That means Vietnamese does not need a separate word like English is or was before it.

So:

• Trần nhà dột = The ceiling is leaky / leaks.
• Trần nhà bị dột = The ceiling is affected by leaking.

You do not need a verb equivalent to to be before dột.

Vietnamese does not normally mark tense the way English does. There is often no direct equivalent of was in a sentence like this.

Instead, time is shown through context or time expressions such as:

• hôm qua = yesterday
• đã = past marker in many contexts
• đang = ongoing action
• sẽ = future

In this sentence, hôm qua already tells you the time, so English translates it with was or were, but Vietnamese does not need a separate word there.

Yes, that is possible.

• Trần nhà hôm qua không hề dột = The ceiling yesterday was not at all leaky.
• Trần nhà hôm qua không hề bị dột = The ceiling yesterday was not at all affected by leaking.

The version with bị sounds a bit more like there is a potential problem or damage that the ceiling could suffer from. The version without bị is slightly more direct and simple.

In everyday speech, both could appear, depending on the speaker and context.

No. Vietnamese nouns do not use articles the way English does.

So trần nhà can mean:

• the ceiling
• a ceiling

The exact meaning depends on context. In this sentence, English would most naturally say the ceiling, because it sounds like a specific ceiling already known in the situation.

Yes, it is understandable and grammatical. But many speakers might more naturally say:

• Hôm qua trần nhà không hề bị dột.

This version puts the time first, which is very common in Vietnamese. Your original sentence is still fine; it just gives slightly more topic emphasis to trần nhà.

Dột usually refers to water leaking through a roof or ceiling, especially from rain. It is not just any kind of leak.

For example:

• a roof that lets rainwater in
• a ceiling with water dripping through from above

So bị dột usually suggests a house problem involving rainwater coming through the top of the building.