Điện thoại bị lỗi.

Điện thoại literally means telephone/phone. In modern everyday Vietnamese, it very often means mobile phone / cell phone, depending on context.

So Điện thoại bị lỗi can naturally mean:

• The phone has a problem
• The phone is defective
• The phone is glitching / faulty

If you want to be more specific, Vietnamese can also say:

• điện thoại di động = mobile phone
• điện thoại bàn = landline phone

Vietnamese does not use articles like English a/an/the.

So Điện thoại bị lỗi could mean:

• The phone is faulty
• A phone is faulty
• Phones are faulty

The exact meaning depends on context.

If you want to make it more specific, you can add words such as:

• Cái điện thoại này bị lỗi. = This phone is faulty.
• Điện thoại của tôi bị lỗi. = My phone is faulty.

Bị is a very common Vietnamese word that often suggests being affected by something negative, unwanted, or unfortunate.

In Điện thoại bị lỗi, bị shows that the phone is experiencing a problem or defect.

A very natural way to think of it is:

• bị = to suffer from / to be affected by

Other examples:

• Tôi bị ốm. = I’m sick.
• Xe bị hỏng. = The vehicle is broken.
• Máy tính bị virus. = The computer has a virus.

So here, bị adds the sense that the phone has something wrong with it.

Not exactly.

Many learners first meet bị as a passive marker in sentences like:

• Tôi bị mắng. = I was scolded.

But bị is broader than English passive voice. It often means something like:

• to be subjected to
• to be affected by
• to suffer from

In Điện thoại bị lỗi, it is not really a full English-style passive like The phone was defected by... That would sound strange in English anyway. Instead, it means the phone is affected by a defect/problem.

So yes, bị can appear in passive-like sentences, but its core feeling is often negative affectedness.

Lỗi means fault, error, defect, or bug, depending on context.

In Điện thoại bị lỗi, it usually means the phone has:

• a defect
• a technical problem
• a glitch
• a fault

Because lỗi is broad, the exact type of problem depends on the situation:

• software issue
• hardware issue
• manufacturing defect
• general malfunction

So this sentence does not necessarily mean the phone is completely broken. It means there is something wrong with it.

This is a very useful distinction.

• bị lỗi = has a fault / is defective / is glitchy
• bị hỏng = is broken / damaged / not working

bị lỗi often suggests a problem, flaw, or bug, and the thing may still work partly. bị hỏng usually sounds more serious: the thing is broken or no longer functioning properly.

Examples:

• Điện thoại bị lỗi. = The phone has a defect / is glitchy.
• Điện thoại bị hỏng. = The phone is broken.

So if a phone has a software bug, bị lỗi is very natural. If it fell on the ground and no longer turns on, bị hỏng may be better.

Vietnamese often does not need a verb equivalent to English to be in this kind of sentence.

English says:

• The phone is faulty.

Vietnamese can simply say:

• Điện thoại bị lỗi.

This is normal Vietnamese structure. You do not need to insert a separate word for is.

In other words, Vietnamese often expresses meanings more directly, without a copula in many everyday sentences.

Sometimes you may hear shortened expressions, especially in casual speech, product descriptions, or online comments, but Điện thoại bị lỗi is the more standard and natural full sentence when you mean The phone has a defect/problem.

Without bị, điện thoại lỗi can sound:

• shortened
• headline-like
• less complete in normal conversation

So for learners, Điện thoại bị lỗi is the safer choice.

It can refer to either one.

That is because lỗi is broad. It can describe:

• a software bug
• a system glitch
• a technical error
• a manufacturing fault
• a feature that does not work properly

If you want to be clearer, you can specify:

• Điện thoại bị lỗi phần mềm. = The phone has a software issue.
• Điện thoại bị lỗi màn hình. = The phone has a screen defect.
• Điện thoại bị lỗi pin. = The phone has a battery problem.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• Điện thoại ≈ dee-en tho-eye
• bị lỗi ≈ bee loy

But the tones matter a lot in Vietnamese:

• điện has a heavy/falling-glottal tone
• thoại has a falling tone
• bị has a heavy tone
• lỗi has a creaky rising tone

A rough full pronunciation is something like:

dee-ən thwại bee lỗi

This is only approximate. Listening to native audio is the best way to learn the real pronunciation.

By itself, điện thoại does not clearly show singular or plural.

Depending on context, it could mean:

• the phone
• a phone
• phones

If you want to mark plural, you can add words like:

• những điện thoại bị lỗi = faulty phones
• các điện thoại bị lỗi = the phones / phones

But in many real situations, context makes the number clear.

You can add demonstratives or possession:

• Cái điện thoại này bị lỗi. = This phone is faulty.
• Điện thoại này bị lỗi. = This phone is faulty.
• Điện thoại của tôi bị lỗi. = My phone is faulty.

A note on cái:

• cái is a classifier often used with objects
• in casual speech, people sometimes include it and sometimes leave it out

So both Cái điện thoại này bị lỗi and Điện thoại này bị lỗi are natural.

Yes. Điện thoại bị lỗi. is a short, complete, and natural everyday sentence.

It sounds like something you might say:

• to customer service
• at a repair shop
• when describing a problem
• in a product review

It is simple but very useful, especially when reporting that a device has some kind of fault.