Đừng la.

don't

Breakdown of Đừng la.

• la: to shout; yell

Questions & Answers about Đừng la.

What does đừng mean in this sentence?

Đừng is used to tell someone not to do something. It is very common in negative commands.

So:

• Đừng la. = Don’t yell / Don’t scold.

A useful pattern is:

• đừng + verb = don’t + verb

Examples:

• Đừng đi. = Don’t go.
• Đừng nói. = Don’t speak.
• Đừng cười. = Don’t laugh.

What does la mean here?

La usually means to yell, to shout at someone, or to scold.

So Đừng la. can mean slightly different things depending on context:

• Don’t yell.
• Don’t shout.
• Don’t scold me / him / her.

Vietnamese often leaves some information unstated if the context is already clear, so la can feel broader than one exact English verb.

Why is there no subject like you in the sentence?

In Vietnamese, subjects are often omitted when they are obvious from context.

In English, you usually need:

• Don’t yell.

In Vietnamese, it is very natural to just say:

• Đừng la.

The listener understands that the speaker is telling you not to do something. If needed, a pronoun can be added:

• Đừng la em. = Don’t scold me / Don’t yell at me.
• Mẹ đừng la. = Mom, don’t scold me.