Questions & Answers about Tôi đang nghĩ xem nên mua quà gì cho Lan.
What does đang do in this sentence?
đang marks an action or process as being in progress, similar to am/is/are ...-ing in English.
So:
- Tôi nghĩ = I think / I’m thinking
- Tôi đang nghĩ = I’m currently thinking / I’m in the middle of thinking
In this sentence, đang emphasizes that the speaker is actively considering something right now.
Why is xem used here? Doesn’t xem usually mean to see/watch?
Yes, xem often means to see, watch, look at, but in patterns like nghĩ xem, it has a different function.
Here, nghĩ xem means something like:
- think about
- consider
- think and see
So Tôi đang nghĩ xem... is a very natural way to say I’m thinking about / considering...
It softens the thought process a bit and makes it sound like the speaker is weighing options.
What does nên mean here?
nên means should / ought to.
In nên mua quà gì, it means:
- what gift I should buy
- what I ought to buy as a gift
So the sentence is not just I’m thinking about buying a gift, but more specifically I’m thinking about what gift would be appropriate to buy.