Hay là đi ăn rồi đi uống cà phê?

In this sentence, hay là is best understood as a suggestion opener, like:

• How about...
• Or maybe...
• What if we...

So Hay là đi ăn rồi đi uống cà phê? sounds like someone proposing a plan.

It is not just a simple dictionary or here. At the start of a sentence, hay là often introduces an option or idea for people to consider.

Vietnamese often leaves out the subject when it is obvious from context.

So this sentence can naturally mean:

• How about we go eat and then go have coffee?

Even though we is not stated, it is understood.

If you want to make it explicit, you could say:

• Hay là mình đi ăn rồi đi uống cà phê?
• Hay là chúng ta đi ăn rồi đi uống cà phê?

The version without a subject is very natural in conversation.

Here, rồi means then, after that, or and then.

It links the two actions in sequence:

1. đi ăn = go eat
2. đi uống cà phê = go have coffee

So rồi shows the order: first eat, then have coffee.

Important: in other contexts, rồi can also mean already, but that is not what it means here.

Because each part describes a separate activity:

• đi ăn = go eat
• đi uống cà phê = go have coffee

Vietnamese often uses đi + verb to mean go and do something.

Repeating đi makes both actions sound like planned outings or steps in the plan.

You may also hear a shorter version like:

• Hay là đi ăn rồi uống cà phê?

That is also natural. But with đi repeated, the sentence clearly presents both as activities you go out to do.

Yes, literally it means go drink coffee, but in natural English it often corresponds to:

• go have coffee
• go get coffee
• go for coffee

So it can sound a little more social and idiomatic than just the literal translation.

Similarly:

• uống cà phê = drink coffee
• đi uống cà phê = go out for coffee / go have coffee

Yes, but it is a suggestion question, not a request for factual information.

It is like asking:

• How about we go eat and then get coffee?
• Should we go eat and then get coffee?

So the speaker is proposing a plan and inviting agreement.

The question mark reflects that the speaker is asking for the listener’s reaction.

In hay là, là is part of a fixed expression. It is not functioning the same way as là in sentences like:

• Tôi là giáo viên. = I am a teacher.

So here, it is better not to translate word by word. Just learn hay là as one chunk meaning something like:

• how about
• or maybe
• what if

This is a very common point of confusion.

• hay by itself can mean or in choices:

  • Đi ăn hay đi uống cà phê? = Eat or go drink coffee?

• hoặc also means or, often a bit more neutral or formal:

  • Cà phê hoặc trà = Coffee or tea

• hay là often introduces a suggested option:

  • Hay là đi ăn rồi đi uống cà phê? = How about we go eat and then have coffee?

So hay là is not just linking two words. It is presenting an idea for consideration.

Yes. Vietnamese often does not mark tense explicitly if the context is clear.

This sentence is naturally understood as a plan or suggestion about what to do next, so it has a future sense in context.

Vietnamese does not need a word like will here.

If needed, time words could be added, for example:

• Hay là bây giờ đi ăn rồi đi uống cà phê? = How about going to eat now and then getting coffee?
• Hay là tối nay đi ăn rồi đi uống cà phê? = How about eating tonight and then getting coffee?

Yes. It is already a natural conversational sentence.

Vietnamese often allows short, compact suggestions like this, especially in casual speech. The omitted subject and the simple sequence of verbs make it sound very normal and efficient.

A slightly fuller version would be:

• Hay là mình đi ăn rồi đi uống cà phê?

But the shorter version is completely natural when the people involved are already understood.