Questions & Answers about Men gốm ở trên kệ.
What does each word in Men gốm ở trên kệ mean?
- men = glaze, enamel
- gốm = ceramics, pottery
- ở = to be located at/in/on
- trên = on, above
- kệ = shelf, rack
So men gốm is ceramic glaze, and ở trên kệ tells you where it is.
Why is it men gốm and not gốm men?
In this phrase, men is the main noun, and gốm tells you what kind of glaze it is. So men gốm means ceramic glaze or glaze for pottery.
This can feel backward to an English speaker, because English often puts the material/type first, as in ceramic glaze. Vietnamese compounds do not always follow English word order.
Why is there no word for is in the sentence?
Vietnamese often does not use a separate verb like English is in the same way. In location sentences, ở does the job of expressing be located.
So:
- X ở Y = X is at/in/on Y
That is why Men gốm ở trên kệ naturally means The ceramic glaze is on the shelf.
Why do we use ở here instead of là?