Learn Hardcore Vietnamese: Bạn có đến thư viện vào sáng mai không? - Are you going to come to the library tomorrow morning?

Bạn – you (used for a friend / peer)
có – literally have / there is, but here it works as part of a yes–no question pattern
đến – to come, to arrive
thư viện – library
vào – into; with times it works like in / on / at
sáng – morning
mai – tomorrow
không – no / not; at the end of a sentence it is a yes–no question particle

A very literal gloss would be something like: You (có) come library at morning tomorrow không?

Why are both có and không used? How does this make a question?

Vietnamese often forms yes–no questions with the pattern:

[Subject] + có + [Verb / Adjective] + không?

So:

Bạn – you
có – begins the yes–no frame
đến thư viện vào sáng mai – go to the library tomorrow morning
không? – closes the yes–no frame

Functionally this equals English “Do / Will you … ?”

So có … không here is a grammatical frame for yes–no questions, not two separate content words that both need to be translated.

Does có still mean have in this sentence?

Not in a way you would normally translate.

có has two common uses:

Lexical verb:
- Tôi có sách. – I have books.
  Here có clearly means have.
Question / affirmation marker (as in your sentence):
- Bạn có đến thư viện … không? – Are you going / Will you go to the library …?
  Here có is part of the yes–no question frame and usually is not translated as have.

You can think of this có as something like English do in Do you go? – it is grammatically necessary, but not a main-meaning verb.

Can I leave out có or không and still have a correct question?

Yes, with some patterns:

Drop có, keep không – very common and natural:
- Bạn đến thư viện vào sáng mai không?
  Still a perfectly normal yes–no question.
Keep có, drop không – less natural in standard speech if you do nothing else. Usually you would then add another particle like à, hả, etc.:
- Bạn có đến thư viện vào sáng mai à? / hả? – You’re going to the library tomorrow morning?
Drop both and use rising intonation, in casual spoken Vietnamese:
- Bạn đến thư viện vào sáng mai? (rising tone at the end)
  This can sound like You’re going to the library tomorrow morning? (checking / confirming).

For a neutral, textbook-style question, có … không? is the safest pattern to copy.

There is no word like will here. How does the sentence express future time?

Vietnamese usually relies on time expressions and context, not on verb tense endings or auxiliary verbs like will.

In your sentence, sáng mai (tomorrow morning) already tells us the action is in the future. Because of that, the bare verb đến is automatically understood as will come / will go.

You can use a future marker sẽ, but you often do not need it:

Bạn sẽ đến thư viện vào sáng mai không? – grammatically OK, but sounds more explicit / slightly heavier.

More natural futures often just combine a time word with the simple verb, like your original sentence.

Could I use sẽ instead of có to say Will you go …?

Not in the same slot. có … không is a yes–no frame; sẽ is a future marker that goes before the main verb.

Patterns:

With có … không (more neutral):
- Bạn có đến thư viện vào sáng mai không?
With sẽ (future focus) you normally drop có and just use another question strategy:
- Sáng mai bạn sẽ đến thư viện chứ?
- Bạn sẽ đến thư viện vào sáng mai không? (possible, but feels a bit heavier / more insistent)

As a learner, using có … không with a time word like sáng mai is simpler and very natural.

What is the difference between đến and đi here? Could I say Bạn có đi thư viện vào sáng mai không?

Both đến and đi can work, but they differ slightly:

đến – emphasizes arriving / coming to a place
- đến thư viện – to come / arrive at the library
đi – emphasizes going / leaving for a place
- đi thư viện – to go to the library

In many everyday contexts they overlap, so:

Bạn có đến thư viện vào sáng mai không?
Bạn có đi thư viện vào sáng mai không?

both sound natural and both can be understood as Are you going to the library tomorrow morning?, with only a small nuance difference that most learners can safely ignore.

What does vào do before sáng mai? Is it necessary?

Here vào is a preposition. Literally it means into, but with time expressions it works like in / on / at:

vào sáng mai – in the morning tomorrow / tomorrow morning
vào thứ Hai – on Monday
vào mùa hè – in summer

Is it necessary? No:

Bạn có đến thư viện sáng mai không? – also correct and very common.
Bạn có đến thư viện vào sáng mai không? – slightly more explicit / formal or careful.

As a learner, you can safely omit vào with simple times like sáng mai until you get used to when Vietnamese speakers include it.

Why is it sáng mai and not mai sáng?

Vietnamese time expressions follow a fixed order:

Part of day
- day word
  - sáng mai – tomorrow morning
  - chiều nay – this afternoon
  - tối qua – last night

So:

sáng (morning) + mai (tomorrow) → sáng mai

mai sáng is not grammatical in standard Vietnamese for tomorrow morning.

Can the time expression move to the beginning, like in English Tomorrow morning, will you go …?

Yes. Time expressions are flexible in Vietnamese:

Bạn có đến thư viện vào sáng mai không? – neutral order.
Sáng mai bạn có đến thư viện không? – puts extra focus on tomorrow morning.
Vào sáng mai bạn có đến thư viện không? – also possible, a bit more formal / written.

All mean essentially the same thing; the difference is mainly emphasis and style, not grammar.

Why is there no classifier before thư viện? I often see nouns with a classifier.

Classifiers are common, but they are not used with every noun in every context.

Place and institution nouns like:

trường – school
bệnh viện – hospital
thư viện – library
chợ – market

are often used without classifiers when you talk about going to or being at that type of place in general:

đến thư viện – go to the library
đi chợ – go to the market
ở trường – be at school

If you needed to count or specify one particular library, you might say:

một thư viện – one library

A classifier before thư viện is usually not needed in this kind of go to X sentence.

Does Bạn always mean you? Is it polite?

Bạn does correspond to English you, but Vietnamese pronouns are strongly based on age, gender, and relationship, not just grammatical person.

Bạn – neutral, friendly; often used:
- between classmates / peers
- in textbooks and language classes
- by teachers to address students

In real life, adults often use kinship-based pronouns instead:

anh / chị / em / cô / chú / bác, etc., depending on age and relationship.

So Bạn có đến thư viện vào sáng mai không? is fine in a classroom or between friends. With a much older stranger, natives might instead say something like:

Chị mai sáng có đến thư viện không? (to an older woman)
Anh mai sáng có đến thư viện không? (to an older man)

As a beginner, bạn is a safe default with people around your age.

How would I answer this question with Yes, I am and No, I am not in Vietnamese?

For Yes and No, Vietnamese usually repeats (or negates) the main verb, not just a bare yes.

From Bạn có đến thư viện vào sáng mai không?

Yes, I am (going):
- Short: Có.
- More natural full answer:
  - Vâng, sáng mai tôi đến thư viện.
  - Dạ, sáng mai em đến thư viện. (if you are younger / female speaker in the South, etc.)
No, I am not (going):
- Short: Không.
- More complete:
  - Không, sáng mai tôi không đến thư viện.

Pattern to remember:

Affirmative: often repeat the verb phrase (đến thư viện)
Negative: add không before the verb: không đến thư viện

Are there any pronunciation or tone points I should pay attention to in this sentence?

Key words with tones:

Bạn – falling, heavy tone (nặng) on ạ
có – rising tone (sắc) on ó
đến – rising tone (sắc) on ế
thư – mid-level tone (ngang) on ư
viện – heavy tone (nặng) on ệ
vào – falling tone (huyền) on à
sáng – rising tone (sắc) on á
mai – mid-level tone (ngang)
không – mid-level tone (ngang) on ô

Common difficulties for English speakers:

Final -ng in sáng, không – it is a back nasal [ŋ], not an English g sound.
Distinguish bạn (nặng) from ban (no diacritic); the ending glottal stop and pitch drop in bạn are important.
Keep kh- in không as a stronger, more fricative k sound (like German ach), not just a plain k.

Practising slowly word by word, then linking them in natural rhythm, will help a lot.