Bạn muốn uống cà phê.

You want to drink coffee.

Breakdown of Bạn muốn uống cà phê.

• bạn: you
• muốn: to want
• uống: to drink
• cà phê: the coffee

Questions & Answers about Bạn muốn uống cà phê.

Why do we use bạn here instead of other pronouns like anh or chị?

In Vietnamese, pronouns often reflect age, gender, or relationship. Bạn is a neutral way to say you, roughly equal to friend. Anh and chị are commonly used for addressing someone slightly older. Depending on context and relationship, you might switch pronouns accordingly.

What role does muốn play in the sentence?

Muốn means to want. It’s used to express a desire for something or an action, just like want in English. In this sentence, it indicates you want to do something (drink coffee).

Is word order in Vietnamese always Subject + Verb + Object like in English?

Generally, yes; Vietnamese often follows a Subject-Verb-Object pattern. However, Vietnamese is also context-driven, so speakers sometimes omit the subject if it’s clear who is meant. In this sentence, the order is: Bạn (Subject) + muốn (Verb) + uống (Verb, acting like an object complement here) + cà phê (Object).

Why isn’t there an article (like a or the) for cà phê?

Vietnamese doesn’t use articles the way English does. There’s no direct equivalent to a, an, or the. If needed, classifiers or other measure words are added for specificity, but for something like cà phê, no article is required.

Do we need to add to between muốn and uống the way we do in English (want to drink)?

No. In Vietnamese, you don’t insert to between muốn and the next verb. You simply put the verbs back to back: muốn uống, literally want drink. It’s a natural construction in Vietnamese.