Nước nhỏ giọt, vết ẩm lan rộng.

Nhỏ giọt means to drip or to drip drop by drop.

• nhỏ = to fall in tiny amounts / to drip
• giọt = a drop

Together, nhỏ giọt is a very common verb phrase for liquid dripping slowly, one drop at a time.

So Nước nhỏ giọt means Water is dripping.

Vietnamese often does not use a word equivalent to English is/am/are in sentences like this.

In English, you say:

• Water is dripping.

In Vietnamese, it is natural to say simply:

• Nước nhỏ giọt.

Vietnamese often relies on context and does not need a separate present-progressive marker here. The sentence can naturally mean:

• Water drips
• Water is dripping

depending on context.

Yes. In Nước nhỏ giọt:

• nước = the subject
• nhỏ giọt = the verb phrase

So the structure is basically:

• Nước → water
• nhỏ giọt → drips / is dripping

This is a very normal Vietnamese clause structure: subject + verb.

Vết ẩm means a damp mark, wet patch, or moist stain/spot.

Breaking it down:

• vết = mark, stain, trace, patch
• ẩm = damp, moist

So vết ẩm is not just general dampness in the air. It refers to a visible damp area, such as on a wall, ceiling, or floor.

This is a good question because both relate to wetness, but they are not exactly the same.

• ướt = wet
• ẩm = damp, moist

Ẩm is usually better for something like a wall, ceiling, or patch that has become moist but is not completely soaked.
So vết ẩm sounds more natural than vết ướt in many contexts.

Compare:

• áo ướt = wet shirt
• tường ẩm = damp wall
• vết ẩm = damp patch

Lan rộng means to spread, to widen, or to spread out further.

Breaking it down:

• lan = spread
• rộng = wide

Together, lan rộng gives the idea that something is expanding over a larger area.

So:

• vết ẩm lan rộng = the damp patch spreads / the damp stain is spreading

You can say just lan, but lan rộng is more vivid and specific.

• lan = spread
• lan rộng = spread wider / spread over a larger area

Adding rộng emphasizes that the affected area is getting bigger.

So:

• Vết ẩm lan. = The damp patch spreads.
• Vết ẩm lan rộng. = The damp patch spreads wider / expands.

The second one sounds more descriptive.

The comma separates two short related clauses:

• Nước nhỏ giọt
• vết ẩm lan rộng

It suggests a close connection between them, almost like:

• Water drips, and the damp patch spreads.
• Water is dripping; the damp patch is spreading.

Vietnamese often uses commas this way to connect closely related actions or observations without needing a conjunction like and.

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

So nhỏ giọt and lan rộng themselves do not show tense. The time is understood from context.

This sentence could describe:

• something happening now
• something that happens generally
• something observed in a scene

If you wanted to make the time more explicit, Vietnamese could add time words or aspect markers, for example:

• đang nhỏ giọt = is dripping
• đang lan rộng = is spreading

But in many cases, they are not necessary.

Yes, originally giọt is a noun meaning drop.
But in nhỏ giọt, it forms part of a fixed verb phrase.

So while giọt by itself means drop, in this expression you should learn nhỏ giọt as a whole unit meaning to drip.

Examples:

• một giọt nước = a drop of water
• nước nhỏ giọt = water drips

In some contexts, Vietnamese word combinations can be ambiguous, but here Nước nhỏ giọt is most naturally read as a full clause:

• Nước = water
• nhỏ giọt = drips / is dripping

So the most natural interpretation is:

• Water is dripping.

If you wanted dripping water as a noun phrase, the surrounding structure would usually make that clearer.

Vietnamese does not use articles the same way English does. There is no direct equivalent of a/an/the that must appear in every noun phrase.

So:

• nước can mean water
• vết ẩm can mean a damp patch or the damp patch

Which one sounds best in English depends on context.

That is why one Vietnamese sentence may be translated in several natural ways:

• Water is dripping; the damp patch spreads.
• Water drips, and a damp patch spreads.
• The water is dripping; the damp mark is spreading.

It sounds natural, but also somewhat concise and descriptive. It feels like the kind of sentence you might see in narration, description, or a textbook example.

In everyday speech, a speaker might say something a little fuller, such as:

• Nước đang nhỏ giọt, vết ẩm đang lan rộng.
• Nước bị rò nên vết ẩm lan rộng.

But the original sentence is perfectly understandable and natural as a compact description.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• Nước → similar to nước with a short, clipped ending
• nhỏ giọt → nyaw zọt or nyaw yawt depending on dialect
• vết ẩm → vet um
• lan rộng → lan roong

A few important points:

• nh in nhỏ sounds like Spanish ñ in señor, roughly an English ny sound.
• giọt is pronounced differently by region:
  • in northern speech, often like zọt
  • in southern speech, often closer to yọt
• rộng also varies by region.

For accurate pronunciation, tones matter a lot, so it is best to listen to a native recording if possible.

Possibly, but only if the context clearly involves a leak.

Nước nhỏ giọt literally describes water dripping, not necessarily the whole idea of leaking.
A leak is often expressed more directly with words like:

• rò rỉ
• bị dột (for a roof leaking)
• bị rò nước

So the safest translation is:

• Water is dripping; the damp patch spreads.

If the context is clearly a leak in a ceiling or pipe, then Water is leaking may also work as a freer translation.