Learn Hardcore Vietnamese: Ngày mai chúng tôi phải họp để nói về kế hoạch du lịch. - Tomorrow we have to meet to talk about the travel plan.

Chúng tôi ngày mai phải họp… (possible but less natural in this case)
Chúng tôi phải họp ngày mai… (also possible, often used if “ngày mai” is new or emphasized information)

The most neutral and common order in everyday speech here is the original one: [time] + [subject] + [rest of the sentence].

What is the function of “phải” in this sentence? Is it future tense?

“Phải” does not mark future tense. It expresses obligation / necessity, similar to “have to / must”:

chúng tôi phải họp = we have to meet / we must meet

Vietnamese doesn’t conjugate verbs for tense the way English does. Future time is usually shown by time words (like ngày mai) or by auxiliaries like “sẽ”.

Compare:

Ngày mai chúng tôi họp. – Tomorrow we meet. (just a statement of a planned meeting)
Ngày mai chúng tôi phải họp. – Tomorrow we have to meet. (there is some necessity/obligation)
Ngày mai chúng tôi sẽ họp. – Tomorrow we will meet. (focus on future occurrence, more neutral about obligation)

Could we say “sẽ họp” instead of “phải họp”? What’s the difference?

You could say:

Ngày mai chúng tôi sẽ họp để nói về kế hoạch du lịch.

This focuses on the future plan (we will meet). The original with “phải” adds a feeling of duty, requirement, or pressure:

phải họp = we have to hold the meeting (maybe because of a deadline, a boss’s order, etc.)
sẽ họp = we will hold the meeting (just a plan or scheduled event)

So both are grammatically correct, but the nuance is different.

Why is “chúng tôi” used, and how is it different from “chúng ta”?

Both mean “we / us”, but they differ in whether the listener is included:

chúng tôi = we (not including you)
chúng ta = we (including you)

So in:

Ngày mai chúng tôi phải họp…

the speaker implies the listener is not part of that group. If the speaker wants to include the listener in the meeting, they’d say:

Ngày mai chúng ta phải họp để nói về kế hoạch du lịch.
= Tomorrow we (you and I) have to meet to talk about the travel plan.

What does “để” do in “để nói về kế hoạch du lịch”?

“Để” introduces purpose, similar to “to / in order to” in English.

họp để nói về kế hoạch du lịch
= have a meeting to talk about the travel plan
= have a meeting in order to talk about the travel plan

Structure:
[action 1] + để + [action 2 (purpose)]

For example:

Tôi học tiếng Việt để đi du lịch.
I learn Vietnamese to travel.

Why is it “nói về kế hoạch du lịch” and not just “nói kế hoạch du lịch”?

The verb “nói” (to speak, talk) often needs “về” (about) when you talk about a topic:

nói về kế hoạch = talk about the plan
nói về du lịch = talk about travel

Without “về”, “nói kế hoạch” sounds incomplete or unnatural in most contexts, because it suggests “say the plan” rather than “talk about the plan”.

So:

nói về kế hoạch du lịch = talk about the travel plan

How does “kế hoạch du lịch” work grammatically? Why is “travel” after “plan”?

In Vietnamese, the main noun usually comes first, and the noun that modifies it comes after:

kế hoạch = plan
du lịch = travel / tourism
kế hoạch du lịch = (a) travel plan / plan for travel

This is similar to English structures like:

plan for travel
travel plan

Other examples:

kế hoạch học tập = study plan
kế hoạch kinh doanh = business plan

Why isn’t there a word like “a/the” before “kế hoạch du lịch”?

Vietnamese normally doesn’t use articles like “a, an, the”. Whether it means “a travel plan” or “the travel plan” is understood from context.

If you want to emphasize one plan, you can add “một” (one / a):

một kế hoạch du lịch = a travel plan

But in many natural sentences, especially when everyone knows which plan is being discussed, just “kế hoạch du lịch” is fine and more typical.

Is “họp” a verb or a noun here? Do we need a word like “cuộc họp”?

In this sentence, “họp” is a verb: to meet / to hold a meeting.

phải họp = have to meet / have to hold a meeting

If you want to use the noun “meeting”, you often see “cuộc họp”:

Ngày mai chúng tôi có cuộc họp để nói về kế hoạch du lịch.
= Tomorrow we have a meeting to talk about the travel plan.

So:

họp (verb) = to meet / to hold a meeting
cuộc họp (noun phrase) = a meeting

Can I leave out “chúng tôi” and just say “Ngày mai phải họp…”?

You can drop “chúng tôi” if the subject is obvious from context, which is common in Vietnamese:

Ngày mai phải họp để nói về kế hoạch du lịch.

This could mean “(We/they/I) have to meet tomorrow…” depending on who is being talked about. Native speakers rely a lot on context to recover the subject.

However, for learners, it’s safer and clearer to keep “chúng tôi” until you’re very comfortable with the language.

Is “du lịch” a noun or a verb in this sentence?

“Du lịch” can be both a verb (to travel, to go traveling) and a noun (travel, tourism), depending on context.

Here, in “kế hoạch du lịch”, it behaves like a noun modifying “kế hoạch”:

kế hoạch du lịch = travel plan / tourism plan

As a verb, you might see:

Tôi thích du lịch. – I like to travel.
Hè này chúng tôi sẽ du lịch ở Đà Nẵng. – This summer we will travel in Da Nang.

Is “ngày mai” the only way to say “tomorrow”? What about just “mai”?

Both are used:

ngày mai = tomorrow (more neutral, slightly more formal)
mai = tomorrow (more casual / spoken)

You could say:

Mai chúng tôi phải họp để nói về kế hoạch du lịch.

This is very natural in spoken Vietnamese. In writing or more formal speech, “ngày mai” is a bit more standard, but “mai” is still perfectly correct.