Learn Hardcore Vietnamese: Sáng nay An đã đi chợ với mẹ. - This morning, An went to the market with his mother.

sáng nay literally means “this morning.” In Vietnamese, time expressions often appear at the beginning of a sentence to set the temporal context. Placing sáng nay first tells the listener immediately when the action happened.

Why is đã used before đi chợ, and what does it indicate?

đã is a perfective/aspect marker that indicates the action is completed (i.e. past tense). In English you’d say “went,” and in Vietnamese you use đã + verb (here đã đi) to express that An already went to the market.

Can đã be omitted? How does that change the meaning?

You can sometimes drop đã if the time word (sáng nay) already makes it clear you’re talking about the past. However, without đã, An đi chợ với mẹ can sound like a habitual fact (“An goes to the market with her mother” in general) or an instruction. Using đã removes ambiguity.

What does đi chợ literally mean? Is it a fixed phrase?

đi means “to go,” chợ means “market.” Together đi chợ is a fixed verb phrase meaning “to go to the market” (usually for groceries). You don’t need extra words—Vietnamese often combines the verb and its main noun object into one idiomatic chunk.

Why isn’t there a possessive word like của An before mẹ?

When you refer to a family member of the subject, Vietnamese often drops của + pronoun because it’s obvious whose mother it is. mẹ by itself here naturally means “An’s mom.” Adding của An is grammatically correct but redundant in everyday speech.

What’s the difference between d and đ, and what do the diacritics in đã indicate?

In the Vietnamese alphabet, d and đ are two distinct letters.

đ (with a dot below) is pronounced like the English “d.”
d (no dot) is pronounced like /z/ in the North or /j/ in the South.

In đã, you see two diacritics: the dot under the letter marks it as đ, and the accent above the a is the huyền (falling) tone mark, turning a into à.

Is the word order flexible? Could we say Hôm nay An đã đi chợ với mẹ or An đã đi chợ với mẹ sáng nay?

Yes, Vietnamese allows some flexibility.

Sáng nay An đã đi chợ với mẹ. (Emphasizes the time up front.)
Hôm nay An đã đi chợ với mẹ. (Also “Today An went…” but hôm nay is slightly more formal than sáng nay.)
An đã đi chợ với mẹ sáng nay. (Puts the focus on the action; time detail comes at the end.)

All are grammatically correct; you just shift emphasis.

Why don’t we say đi tới chợ or đi đến chợ instead of đi chợ?

Because đi chợ is already an established verb phrase meaning “go (do the) market.” Adding tới or đến (both mean “to/arrive at”) would be redundant when your intention is “go shopping at the market.” If you specifically want to emphasize arrival, you might say đi đến chợ, but for everyday shopping talk, đi chợ is the natural choice.