Hôm nay tôi đến công ty muộn vì bị kẹt xe.

Because Vietnamese often puts a time expression near the beginning of the sentence to set the context first.

So the structure is:

• Hôm nay = today
• tôi = I
• đến công ty = go/come to the company, arrive at work
• muộn = late
• vì bị kẹt xe = because I got stuck in traffic

This time-first pattern is extremely common in Vietnamese:

• Hôm nay tôi bận. = Today I’m busy.
• Ngày mai tôi đi học. = Tomorrow I go to school.

You do not have to put the time expression first every time, but it is very natural.

Đến means to arrive at / to come to / to reach, while đi means to go.

In this sentence, the speaker is focusing on reaching the workplace late, not just the act of going. So đến công ty muộn means arrive at the company late or get to work late.

Compare:

• Tôi đi công ty → this is not the natural way to say I go to the company/work
• Tôi đến công ty → natural: I arrive at/go to the company
• Tôi đi làm → natural: I go to work

So for this sentence, đến công ty muộn is the most natural choice.

Because muộn describes how the arrival happened, not the noun công ty.

Vietnamese often uses this pattern:

• verb + place + adjective/adverb-like result

So:

• đến công ty muộn = arrive at the company late

This is similar to saying:

• về nhà sớm = get home early
• đi học muộn = go to school late
• đến nơi đúng giờ = arrive on time

Even though muộn is often taught as an adjective meaning late, in sentences like this it works naturally as a predicate/result word.

Bị often marks something unfortunate, unwanted, or negative that happens to someone.

So bị kẹt xe means something like:

• to get stuck in traffic
• to be caught in traffic

It gives the feeling that this was an unpleasant circumstance, not something intentional.

Other examples:

• bị ốm = get sick
• bị mất điện = have a power outage happen to you
• bị mắng = get scolded

In this sentence, bị helps show that the traffic jam affected the speaker negatively.

Yes. Kẹt xe is a very common everyday expression meaning traffic jam or to be stuck in traffic.

You will hear:

• kẹt xe = stuck in traffic / traffic jam
• bị kẹt xe = got stuck in traffic

A related expression is:

• tắc đường = traffic congestion, road blockage

Both are common, but kẹt xe is especially frequent in everyday speech, particularly in the south.

Examples:

• Sáng nay kẹt xe quá. = There was terrible traffic this morning.
• Tôi bị kẹt xe. = I got stuck in traffic.

Vietnamese usually does not require tense marking the way English does.

Time is often understood from:

• a time word like hôm nay
• the context
• sometimes an extra marker like đã, đang, or sẽ

In this sentence, Hôm nay already gives enough time context, so no extra tense word is necessary.

If you wanted, you could say:

• Hôm nay tôi đã đến công ty muộn vì bị kẹt xe.

But in normal speech, đã is often omitted when the meaning is already clear.

Sometimes yes, but it depends on context.

Vietnamese often drops subjects when they are obvious. So if everyone already knows you are talking about yourself, you might hear:

• Hôm nay đến công ty muộn vì bị kẹt xe.

That is natural in conversation.

However, if you are learning or if the context is not clear, keeping tôi is safer and clearer:

• Hôm nay tôi đến công ty muộn vì bị kẹt xe.

So:

• with tôi = clear, complete, good for learners
• without tôi = natural in casual context when the subject is obvious

Yes. Vì is the common short form for because.

You may also see:

• bởi vì = because

So these are both natural:

• Hôm nay tôi đến công ty muộn vì bị kẹt xe.
• Hôm nay tôi đến công ty muộn bởi vì bị kẹt xe.

But vì is shorter and very common in everyday speech.

Also note another pattern:

• Do kẹt xe, hôm nay tôi đến công ty muộn.

Here do means because of / due to. This version sounds a bit more formal or written.

Because Vietnamese does not use articles like a, an, and the the way English does.

So công ty can mean:

• company
• the company
• my company
• the office/workplace

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, English might translate it as the company or more naturally work, but Vietnamese does not need an article there.

If you want to make it more specific, you can add something:

• công ty tôi = my company
• công ty đó = that company

You can often use trễ too.

Both muộn and trễ can mean late:

• đến muộn
• đến trễ

Both are natural, but usage can vary by region and style. Very roughly:

• muộn is widely used and neutral
• trễ is also very common, especially in southern speech

So these are both acceptable:

• Hôm nay tôi đến công ty muộn vì bị kẹt xe.
• Hôm nay tôi đến công ty trễ vì bị kẹt xe.

It is neutral and natural. It works well in everyday speech and normal writing.

It is not extremely formal, but it is also not slangy. You could use it:

• in conversation
• in a text message
• when explaining to a coworker
• in basic writing practice

If you wanted something more casual, you might drop tôi if the context is clear:

• Hôm nay đến công ty muộn vì bị kẹt xe.

If you wanted something a bit more formal, you might say:

• Hôm nay tôi đến công ty muộn do kẹt xe.

A learner-friendly breakdown is:

• Hôm
• nay
• tôi
• đến
• công
• ty
• muộn
• vì
• bị
• kẹt
• xe

A few pronunciation points native English speakers often ask about:

• tôi has a gliding vowel somewhat like toy, but not exactly English toy
• đ in đến is a normal d-like sound, while plain d in Vietnamese is different
• công ends with -ng
• muộn has a final -n sound
• xe is pronounced like seh in the north, not like English zee
• tones matter a lot, especially in words like đến, muộn, vì, bị, kẹt

It is best to learn the sentence in chunks:

• Hôm nay tôi
• đến công ty muộn
• vì bị kẹt xe

Yes. That is a very natural English rendering.

Even though the Vietnamese literally mentions arriving at the company late, in real usage công ty here often corresponds to:

• the office
• work
• my workplace

So depending on context, natural translations include:

• I got to work late today because I was stuck in traffic.
• I was late to the office today because of traffic.
• Today I arrived at the company late because I got stuck in traffic.

This is a good reminder that natural translation is often broader than word-for-word translation.