An muốn biết nhà tôi ở đâu.

to be

Breakdown of An muốn biết nhà tôi ở đâu.

• An: An
• muốn: to want
• nhà: the house
• ở đâu: where
• biết: to know

Questions & Answers about An muốn biết nhà tôi ở đâu.

Why is muốn biết formed with two separate words instead of one combined verb?

In Vietnamese, muốn means want and biết means know. When expressing the idea of wanting to know, you put these two words together: muốn (want) + biết (know). There is no single verb that encapsulates want to know in one word, so you see it as two separate words.

What is the role of nhà tôi in this sentence?

Nhà tôi literally means my house. In Vietnamese, possessive structures often place the noun before the pronoun. So nhà tôi is house (of) me, which naturally translates to my house in English.

Why is ở đâu placed at the end of the sentence?

Ở đâu means where in Vietnamese, and it usually appears at the end of a sentence when you’re asking about a location. The question word placement differs from English; however, the meaning remains ...where is (something)?

Could we say An muốn hỏi nhà tôi ở đâu instead?

Slightly different nuances can appear, but generally, muốn hỏi (wants to ask) and muốn biết (wants to know) are quite similar. Muốn hỏi suggests the action of asking a question directly, whereas muốn biết focuses on the desire to have knowledge about something. Both can be used in everyday speech, though muốn biết sounds more like wanting to find out rather than wanting to ask directly.

Is tôi always used for I or my in Vietnamese?

Tôi is the standard, neutral pronoun for I/me in formal or polite contexts. In everyday Vietnamese, there are many other pronouns that can replace tôi depending on context, social relationship, or regional usage (e.g., mình, em, anh, chị), but tôi is the safest default.