Con chó của tôi đang ngủ trong phòng.

My dog is sleeping in the room.

Breakdown of Con chó của tôi đang ngủ trong phòng.

• tôi: I
• đang: currently
• trong: in
• của: of
• ngủ: to sleep
• phòng: the room
• con chó: the dog

Questions & Answers about Con chó của tôi đang ngủ trong phòng.

What does each word in Con chó của tôi đang ngủ trong phòng mean?

• Con: a classifier used for animals (e.g., dogs, cats)
• Chó: dog
• Của: a possessive marker equivalent to English "of"
• Tôi: I / me / my
• Đang: marks the progressive aspect ("is …ing")
• Ngủ: sleep / to sleep
• Trong: in / inside
• Phòng: room

Why do we use con before chó? Is it always required?

In Vietnamese, con is a classifier (or measure word) that you often use when counting or specifying animals like dogs, cats, etc. When you say con chó, you’re literally saying "a/an dog" (classifier + noun). In spoken language, native speakers sometimes drop the classifier in casual contexts, so chó của tôi is still understandable, but using con is more grammatically complete.

What is the function of đang in this sentence?

Đang is used to indicate the progressive aspect (that an action is currently in progress). So đang ngủ means "is sleeping," rather than just "sleeps" in a habitual sense.

Why is possession expressed as của tôi instead of “my”? Could we say chó tôi?

Vietnamese doesn’t have a standalone word for "my." Instead, you use the structure noun + của + possessor. So chó của tôi literally means "dog of me." In casual speech, it’s common to shorten chó của tôi to chó tôi, dropping the của. Both are correct; chó của tôi is just more formal or explicit.

Why is there no article like “the” or “a” before phòng?

Vietnamese generally doesn’t use articles like English “the” or “a.” When you need to specify something more clearly, you can add a measure word (e.g., cái phòng for "the room"), but in this context trong phòng simply means "in (the) room," and it’s clear which room you mean from context.

Can we add ở before trong phòng (e.g., đang ngủ ở trong phòng)?

Yes. Ở is a locative marker meaning "at" or "in," so đang ngủ ở trong phòng is also correct and sounds natural. However, because trong already means "inside," many speakers omit ở to avoid redundancy.

What is the word order in this sentence compared to English?

Vietnamese follows a Subject–Verb–(Object)–Adverbial structure. Here it’s:

1. Subject: Con chó của tôi
2. Verb: đang ngủ
3. Location (adverbial): trong phòng

In English you would say: “My dog is sleeping in the room.” The overall order is very similar.

Could we remove đang and still understand the sentence?

Yes. If you say Con chó của tôi ngủ trong phòng, it still means "My dog sleeps in the room," but it has a habitual or simple present sense ("my dog sleeps in the room" in general). Adding đang specifically marks that the action is happening right now ("is sleeping").

How do you pronounce đang and phòng with the correct tones?

• Đang is pronounced like “dahng” with a level tone (ngang).
• Phòng is pronounced like “fong” with a falling tone (huyền).

Practicing with native speaker audio will help you master these tones.