Learn Hardcore Vietnamese: Tối nay tôi phải tắm và dọn bếp trước khi xem phim. - Tonight I have to shower and clean the kitchen before watching a movie.

Full version: Tối nay tôi phải tắm và dọn bếp trước khi tôi xem phim.
Natural, normal version: Tối nay tôi phải tắm và dọn bếp trước khi xem phim.

Because tôi is already the subject of the sentence, Vietnamese speakers understand that xem phim is also something tôi will do, so tôi can be omitted there.

You can say trước khi tôi xem phim, and it’s grammatically fine, just a bit heavier and usually unnecessary unless you need to contrast subjects (e.g. trước khi nó xem phim).

What exactly does tắm mean? Is it specifically bathe or shower?

Tắm is a general verb meaning to wash your body. It covers both:

take a shower
take a bath

Vietnamese does not normally distinguish between shower vs bath unless you add extra detail:

tắm vòi sen – shower
tắm bồn – bath

In everyday speech, tắm alone is enough. Context tells you which one.

What does dọn bếp mean exactly? Is it the same as cook?

Dọn bếp means to tidy/clean the kitchen, not to cook.

Nuances:

dọn bếp – clean/tidy the kitchen area (wipe surfaces, put things away, etc.)
dọn dẹp nhà bếp – a bit more explicit/complete, clean the kitchen
rửa bát / rửa chén – wash the dishes
nấu ăn / nấu cơm – cook (prepare food)

So tắm và dọn bếp is shower and clean the kitchen, not shower and cook.

How does trước khi work grammatically? Why is it trước khi xem phim and not something else?

Trước khi is a conjunction meaning before (doing something).

Basic pattern:

trước khi + verb / verb phrase
- trước khi ăn – before eating
- trước khi đi ngủ – before going to sleep
- trước khi xem phim – before watching a movie

You can also add a subject:

trước khi tôi xem phim
trước khi nó đi học

So trước khi xem phim literally = before watch movie, i.e. before (I) watch a movie.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Tôi phải tắm và dọn bếp tối nay trước khi xem phim instead?

You can move tối nay around. All of these are acceptable:

Tối nay tôi phải tắm và dọn bếp trước khi xem phim.
Tôi tối nay phải tắm và dọn bếp trước khi xem phim. (less common, but possible in speech)
Tôi phải tắm và dọn bếp tối nay trước khi xem phim.

Most natural are (1) and (3). Time expressions like tối nay, ngày mai can appear at the beginning or later in the sentence. Sentence-initial position is very common for time adverbs.

Do I need to repeat phải before both verbs, like tôi phải tắm và phải dọn bếp?

You don’t need to repeat phải. One phải can cover both verbs joined by và:

Tối nay tôi phải tắm và dọn bếp. – natural
Tối nay tôi phải tắm và phải dọn bếp. – also correct, but sounds more emphatic or a bit heavier, as if stressing each obligation separately.

In normal speech, just one phải at the start of the verb sequence is standard.

How would I negate this sentence? Is it không phải or just không?

To negate the obligation, you usually negate phải:

Tối nay tôi không phải tắm và dọn bếp trước khi xem phim.
- Tonight I don’t have to shower and clean the kitchen before watching a movie.

If you want to say you will not do those actions (rather than “don’t have to”), you negate the verb phrase:

Tối nay tôi không tắm và không dọn bếp trước khi xem phim.
- Tonight I won’t shower and (won’t) clean the kitchen before watching a movie.

So:

không phải + verb → not obliged to
không + verb → don’t / won’t do the action

Could I say trước phim instead of trước khi xem phim, like in English before the movie?

Normally, no. Vietnamese prefers trước khi + verb in this kind of sentence.

Natural: trước khi xem phim – before watching a movie
trước phim is not idiomatic here.

You can say things like:

trước phim as part of a longer phrase, e.g. quảng cáo trước phim – advertisements before the movie

But for talking about your own actions relative to an event, trước khi + verb is the standard pattern:

trước khi xem phim
trước khi bắt đầu phim – before the movie starts

Is tối nay what makes this future? Why don’t we use sẽ for the future?

Vietnamese usually marks time with time words, not with a strict future tense.

Here, tối nay (tonight) tells us the time, so the sentence is naturally understood as future.

Tối nay tôi phải tắm và dọn bếp – Tonight I have to shower and clean the kitchen.

You can add sẽ for emphasis or to be extra explicit:

Tối nay tôi sẽ phải tắm và dọn bếp trước khi xem phim.

But:

Without sẽ: very natural, normal.
With sẽ: still natural, sometimes a bit more “planned” or emphasized.

Does tôi sound formal? Could I use mình or something else instead?

Tôi is neutral and polite, appropriate in most situations (talking to strangers, in writing, etc.).

Other common first-person pronouns:

mình – informal, friendly, often with close friends or in romantic contexts.
tao – very informal, can be rude except among close friends of similar age/social level.
em, anh, chị, cô, chú, etc. – used depending on age and relationship relative to the listener.

If you were talking casually to a friend, you might say:

Tối nay mình phải tắm và dọn bếp trước khi xem phim.

But as a learner, tôi is a safe default.

Can và here also mean and then (sequence), or is it only and?

Và basically means and, just like a simple connector.

tắm và dọn bếp → shower and clean the kitchen

The idea of sequence (first shower, then clean) is often understood from real-life logic, not from và itself.

If you want to clearly show sequence, you could use:

Tối nay tôi phải tắm rồi dọn bếp trước khi xem phim.
- rồi adds the sense of and then / after that.

But in everyday speech, và is fine, and people will usually understand the natural order from context.