Breakdown of An nói với mẹ về công việc mới.
An
An
mới
new
mẹ
the mother
nói
to talk
về
about
công việc
the job
với
to
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Questions & Answers about An nói với mẹ về công việc mới.
Why are there two prepositions, với and về, in this sentence?
- với marks the person you’re speaking to (English “to”).
- về introduces the topic you’re talking about (English “about”).
So An nói với mẹ về công việc mới literally says “An speaks-to mother about new job.”
What’s the difference between nói với and nói chuyện với?
- nói với = “tell/say to someone.” It’s direct and one-way.
- nói chuyện với = “have a conversation with someone.” It implies back-and-forth dialogue.
Why is there no tense marker like đã? Is the sentence present or past?
Vietnamese verbs don’t conjugate for tense. Without aspect markers, timing comes from context.
- To emphasize past, add đã: An đã nói với mẹ về công việc mới (“An told his mother about the new job”).
- Without đã, it could be “An tells/is telling his mother…” or simply a neutral statement.
Why doesn’t mẹ have a possessive marker like của An before it?
Kinship terms (mẹ, bố, chị, em, v.v.) often stand alone when context makes it clear whose relative it is.
You may add của An for clarity—An nói với mẹ của An—but it’s usually unnecessary.
Why is the adjective mới placed after công việc rather than before?
In Vietnamese, adjectives and descriptive phrases follow the nouns they modify.
“New” job = công việc mới (noun + adjective), not mới công việc.
Can we say An nói với mẹ công việc mới without về?
No. về is required to link the verb nói to its topic công việc mới. Omitting về makes the sentence ungrammatical or unclear.
Can you replace với by cho in this context (e.g., nói cho mẹ về công việc mới)?
- nói cho is used when the focus is on making someone hear something, often with nghe: nói cho mẹ nghe = “tell so that mom listens.”
- For simply conveying information to a person, nói với is more natural: nói với mẹ về…
What’s the difference between công việc and just việc?
- công việc = “job,” “occupation,” a specific position or professional work.
- việc alone = “work,” “task,” “matter.” Saying việc mới could mean a “new task,” but công việc mới clearly means a “new job.”
How would you turn this into a yes/no question: “Did An tell his mother about the new job?”
Add không at the end (and optionally đã for past):
An đã nói với mẹ về công việc mới không?
This literally: “An did-tell to mother about new job not?”