Tôi thường ăn trưa với bạn bè ở công viên.

I usually have lunch with friends in the park.

Breakdown of Tôi thường ăn trưa với bạn bè ở công viên.

• tôi: I
• ở: at
• với: with
• thường: usually
• ăn trưa: to have lunch
• bạn bè: the friends
• công viên: the park

Questions & Answers about Tôi thường ăn trưa với bạn bè ở công viên.

Why does the sentence start with Tôi?

Tôi is the first-person singular pronoun “I.” Vietnamese usually puts the subject before the verb just as English does, so you start with Tôi to mean “I.”

What does thường mean, and why is it placed before ăn trưa?

Thường means “often” or “usually.” In Vietnamese, frequency adverbs like thường typically precede the main verb phrase (ăn trưa), so Tôi thường ăn trưa… = “I often eat lunch…”

Is ăn trưa one word or two, and how literal is it?

It’s two words: ăn = “to eat,” trưa = “noon” (and by extension “lunch”). Vietnamese often strings simple words together to form common actions or times of day.

What is the role of với in this sentence?

Với is a preposition meaning “with.” Here it links the action of eating lunch to the people you’re eating with: ăn trưa với bạn bè = “eat lunch with friends.”

Why does it say bạn bè instead of just bạn?

Bạn can mean “friend” or “you,” depending on context. To make it clear you mean “friends” (plural), speakers often say bạn bè, which unambiguously means “friends.”

Why is there no “the” or “a” before công viên?

Vietnamese doesn’t use articles like English. Công viên can be “park,” “the park,” or “a park,” depending on context. If you need to specify “that park,” you could say công viên đó.

What does ở do in ở công viên?

Ở is a locative preposition meaning “at” or “in.” It marks the place where the action happens: ăn trưa… ở công viên = “eat lunch… at the park.”

Can I move ở công viên to the front to emphasize location?

Yes. Vietnamese is quite flexible about fronting location phrases. Ở công viên, tôi thường ăn trưa với bạn bè places emphasis on “at the park” but keeps the same overall meaning.

How would you turn this into a question like “Do you often eat lunch with friends at the park?”

You can add the question particle structure có … không around the verb:
Bạn có thường ăn trưa với bạn bè ở công viên không?
This literally is “You do often eat lunch with friends at the park or not?”