Mẹ tôi đang chuẩn bị bữa tối trong bếp.

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Breakdown of Mẹ tôi đang chuẩn bị bữa tối trong bếp.

• đang: currently
• trong: in (enclosed by something)
• mẹ: the mother

Questions & Answers about Mẹ tôi đang chuẩn bị bữa tối trong bếp.

Why is it mẹ tôi and not tôi mẹ?

In Vietnamese, possessive relationships usually go noun + possessor.

So:

• mẹ tôi = my mother
• literally: mother I

This is different from English, where my comes before the noun.

You can also say mẹ của tôi, where của marks possession more explicitly, but mẹ tôi is shorter and more natural in everyday speech.

What does đang mean here?

Đang marks an action as in progress, similar to English am/is/are ... -ing.

So:

• Mẹ tôi chuẩn bị bữa tối = My mother prepares / is preparing dinner depending on context
• Mẹ tôi đang chuẩn bị bữa tối = My mother is preparing dinner right now

It does not work exactly like English be + -ing, but it often corresponds to that meaning.

Is chuẩn bị one verb or two separate words?