Ông ấy lừa tôi.

me

Breakdown of Ông ấy lừa tôi.

• ông ấy: he
• lừa: to deceive

Questions & Answers about Ông ấy lừa tôi.

Why is ông ấy used for he here? Doesn’t ông mean old man or Mr.?

Yes—ông literally refers to an older man, and it is also used as a respectful way to address or refer to a man.

In Vietnamese, words for he / she / you / I are often based on:

• age
• social relationship
• respect level
• family-style terms

So ông ấy means something like:

• that man
• that older gentleman
• he (when the person is an older man)

It is not a neutral, one-size-fits-all he like in English. Vietnamese usually chooses a pronoun based on who the person is relative to the speaker.

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What does ấy do in ông ấy?

Ấy helps mean that or that one, and in pronouns it often helps create a third-person meaning like he / she / that person.

So:

• ông = an older man / sir / grandfather / Mr.
• ông ấy = that man, which in context often becomes he

You can think of ông ấy as a common way to refer to that older man who has already been mentioned.

Without ấy, ông could sound more like:

• directly addressing him: sir
• or referring to him in a less clearly third-person way, depending on context

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Can I say Ông lừa tôi without ấy?