Tôi thích học tiếng Việt.

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Breakdown of Tôi thích học tiếng Việt.

• thích: to like
• học: to study
• tiếng Việt: the Vietnamese language

Questions & Answers about Tôi thích học tiếng Việt.

Why do we use Tôi at the beginning of the sentence?

In Vietnamese, Tôi is a neutral pronoun meaning “I” or “me.” It doesn't show any specific age or relationship. You could also use other pronouns depending on the context and the speaker-listener relationship (for example, mình, anh, chị, etc.), but Tôi is the safest, most universally understood choice.

Why do we say thích học instead of some other phrase?

In Vietnamese, thích simply means “to like,” and học means “to learn” or “to study.” Together, thích học expresses that you enjoy the process of learning something. It’s very direct and natural in Vietnamese.

Is there a particular tense for “I like to study Vietnamese” in this sentence?

Vietnamese does not use tenses the same way English does. There is no special marker for past, present, or future in the sentence. Instead, context or time words (like đã for past, đang for present progressive, sẽ for future) are used when necessary. Tôi thích học tiếng Việt is a general statement that can mean you like studying Vietnamese now, in the past, or in the future, depending on context.

Why do we say tiếng Việt instead of just Việt?

In Vietnamese, tiếng means “language” or “speech.” Saying tiếng Việt literally means “Vietnamese language.” You don’t normally say just Việt when referring to the language. For instance, you also say tiếng Anh for English and tiếng Pháp for French.