Lễ bắt đầu hôm nay.

A natural word-by-word breakdown is:

• lễ = ceremony, festival, rite, formal event
• bắt đầu = to begin / to start
• hôm nay = today

So the whole sentence means something like The ceremony begins today or The ceremony starts today.

In this sentence, bắt đầu works together as a single verb meaning to begin or to start.

Even though it is written as two separate syllables, that is normal in Vietnamese. Many Vietnamese words and expressions are written with spaces between syllables. So you should learn bắt đầu as one unit of meaning here.

In Lễ bắt đầu hôm nay, bắt đầu is the main verb of the sentence.

Not always. Lễ can have several related meanings depending on context, such as:

• ceremony
• festival
• rite
• something formal or ceremonial

So in this sentence, the best translation depends on the situation. If the context is a formal event, ceremony is a good choice. If it is a holiday or public celebration, festival might fit better.

Vietnamese does not use articles like the or a/an in the same way English does.

So lễ can mean:

• the ceremony
• a ceremony
• simply ceremony

The exact meaning comes from context. In many cases, English needs an article, but Vietnamese does not.

That is why Lễ bắt đầu hôm nay can naturally be translated as The ceremony begins today even though there is no separate word for the.

Hôm nay means today, and in Vietnamese, time expressions are often flexible in position.

So these can all be natural, depending on context and emphasis:

• Lễ bắt đầu hôm nay.
• Hôm nay lễ bắt đầu.
• Lễ hôm nay bắt đầu. (less neutral in some contexts, more context-dependent)

Putting hôm nay at the end is very normal. It often feels similar to saying The ceremony starts today.

Yes. Hôm nay lễ bắt đầu is also grammatical and natural.

The difference is mostly one of emphasis:

• Lễ bắt đầu hôm nay = neutral statement; the event starts today
• Hôm nay lễ bắt đầu = puts today first, so it emphasizes the timing a bit more

English does this too:

• The ceremony starts today.
• Today, the ceremony starts.

Both are correct.

Vietnamese does not mark tense the same way English does. There is no verb ending like starts, started, or will start.

Instead, Vietnamese often uses context or time words. Here, hôm nay tells you the time: today.

So Lễ bắt đầu hôm nay can be understood as:

• The ceremony begins today
• The ceremony is starting today
• sometimes even The ceremony will begin today, depending on context

If you want to make the future meaning more explicit, you could say:

• Lễ sẽ bắt đầu hôm nay = The ceremony will begin today

But in many cases, sẽ is not necessary if the time is already clear.

No, not necessarily.

Because hôm nay already gives the time, Lễ bắt đầu hôm nay is often enough. Vietnamese commonly leaves out future markers when the context is clear.

Adding sẽ makes the future meaning more explicit:

• Lễ bắt đầu hôm nay = The ceremony starts today / begins today
• Lễ sẽ bắt đầu hôm nay = The ceremony will begin today

Both can be correct; the version without sẽ is very natural.

Yes. In this sentence:

• Lễ = subject
• bắt đầu = verb
• hôm nay = time expression

So the basic structure is:

Subject + Verb + Time

That is why this is a complete sentence even though there is no pronoun like it or they.

Here it is being used in an intransitive sense, meaning to begin.

So Lễ bắt đầu hôm nay means The ceremony begins today.

But bắt đầu can also be used with another verb or action, for example:

• bắt đầu học = to start studying
• bắt đầu làm việc = to start working

So it is a flexible verb that can either stand on its own or connect to another action.

A rough pronunciation guide for an English speaker is:

• Lễ ≈ lay with a rising-creaky tone
• bắt ≈ buk with a short vowel and a sharp tone stop
• đầu ≈ dow with a falling-rising tone
• hôm ≈ home but shorter
• nay ≈ nye / night without the final t

A few important notes:

• đ is not the same as d in Vietnamese. đ is like English d.
• Tones matter a lot in Vietnamese, so the exact pronunciation is hard to show with English spelling alone.
• If you are learning pronunciation, it is best to listen to native audio and repeat it.

It is natural, but the word lễ itself can sound somewhat formal because it refers to a ceremony or official event.

So the sentence feels normal if you are talking about:

• a ceremony
• an opening event
• a festival
• a formal celebration

It would not usually be used for something casual like class starts today. For that, you would use a different noun, such as lớp for class.