Questions & Answers about Nhà tôi rất lớn.
In nhà tôi rất lớn, why don’t we use a verb like là (to be) as in English?
Vietnamese often omits the copula “to be” when linking a subject with an adjective. Instead of saying Nhà tôi là rất lớn, you simply say Nhà tôi rất lớn. The adjective lớn directly follows the subject, functioning as the predicate without an explicit là.
Why is “my house” expressed as nhà tôi rather than tôi nhà?
Vietnamese marks possession by placing the noun first, then the possessor. So nhà (house) comes before tôi (I/me). The structure is:
• Noun + Possessor → nhà tôi (my house)
Reversing that order (tôi nhà) would be ungrammatical.
What does rất do in this sentence?
Rất is an adverb meaning “very.” It modifies the adjective lớn to intensify the size.
• lớn = big/large
• rất lớn = very big/very large
What part of speech is lớn, and why is it placed at the end?
Lớn is an adjective (tính từ). In Vietnamese, adjectives used as predicates follow the subject (or subject phrase). The basic word order is:
Subject → (Adverb) → Adjective.
Hence: Nhà tôi (subject) + rất (adverb) + lớn (adjective).