Đợi một giây.

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Breakdown of Đợi một giây.

• đợi: to wait
• giây: the second (time)

Questions & Answers about Đợi một giây.

Is Đợi một giây. a complete sentence even though it has no subject like you?

Yes. In Vietnamese, it is very common to leave out the subject when it is obvious from context. Here, Đợi một giây. is an imperative, so the listener is understood automatically.

In natural English, it corresponds to:

• Wait a second.
• Hold on a second.

If you want to make the listener explicit, you can add a pronoun, for example:

• Anh đợi một giây.
• Chị đợi một giây.
• Em đợi một giây.

The exact pronoun depends on the relationship, age, and social context.

What does đợi mean here, and is it the same as chờ?

Đợi means to wait.

It is very close in meaning to chờ, which also means to wait. In many everyday situations, they can be used interchangeably:

• Đợi một giây.
• Chờ một giây.

Both can mean Wait a second.

That said, learners will often hear chờ a lot in speech, and đợi can sometimes sound a little more direct depending on context. The difference is not huge here, so both are useful to know.

Why is một used? Does it literally mean one?