Learn Hardcore Vietnamese: Mẹ tôi thích nghe âm nhạc khi nấu ăn. - My mother likes to listen to music while cooking.

Mẹ tôi literally reads “mother I,” but it means my mother. In Vietnamese the possessor follows the noun, so the pattern is Noun + Possessive Pronoun. For example:

bạn tôi = my friend
anh trai tôi = my older brother

You can optionally insert của for extra formality (mẹ của tôi), but in everyday speech it’s usually omitted.

How do you say “to like listening to music”? Why is there no word for “to” before nghe?

In Vietnamese you express “like doing something” with thích + [verb] directly. There’s no infinitive marker like “to” in English. So:

thích nghe = like to listen
thích học = like to study
thích đi dạo = like to take a walk

In our sentence Mẹ tôi thích nghe âm nhạc, thích takes the action nghe âm nhạc without any extra particle.

What’s the difference between nghe âm nhạc and nghe nhạc? Are both correct?

Both mean “to listen to music.” The word nhạc is the casual term for “music,” while âm nhạc is slightly more formal or literary. In daily conversation you’ll hear nghe nhạc most often, but nghe âm nhạc is also perfectly acceptable.

What does nấu ăn mean? Why is ăn added to nấu?

Nấu ăn is a compound verb meaning “to cook.” While nấu alone can mean “to cook/boil,” pairing it with ăn (to eat) gives the general activity of preparing food. Vietnamese often forms everyday-action verbs this way, for example:

rửa bát (wash dishes)
giặt quần áo (wash clothes)

What role does khi play in this sentence? Can I use other words for “when”?

Khi is a conjunction meaning “when” and introduces a time clause. Here khi nấu ăn = “when (she) cooks.” You can often swap in:

lúc nấu ăn (a bit more formal or specific)
trong khi nấu ăn (emphasizes “during”)

All three are understood, but khi is the most neutral and common in spoken Vietnamese.

How would I express “while cooking” in another Vietnamese structure?

Use the vừa … vừa … pattern to show two actions happening at the same time. For example:
Mẹ tôi vừa nấu ăn vừa nghe nhạc.
This says literally, “My mother is cooking while listening to music.”

How do I pronounce nghe, and what’s the difference between ng, ngh and nh at the beginning of words?

nghe is pronounced /ŋɛ/ or /ŋə/. The cluster ngh is used before the vowels e, i, ê but sounds the same as ng (/ŋ/) at the start of a word—the velar nasal, like the ng in English “sing.”
ng appears before a, o, u, etc., but still represents /ŋ/.
nh is a different sound, /ɲ/, similar to the Spanish ñ. So nhạc starts with /ɲ/, not /ŋ/.

Can I omit tôi and just say Mẹ thích nghe nhạc khi nấu ăn?

Yes. In casual conversation, if it’s clear you mean your own mother, you can drop tôi:
Mẹ thích nghe nhạc khi nấu ăn.
It sounds more natural and fluid. Use Mẹ tôi or mẹ của tôi when you need to be extra clear or in writing.