Mấy giờ gặp? Gặp ở đâu? Tôi phải về trước.

Vietnamese often leaves out the subject when it is already clear from context. In a conversation, Mấy giờ gặp? naturally means What time shall we meet? and Gặp ở đâu? means Where shall we meet?

If you want to make the subject explicit, you could say Mấy giờ mình gặp? or Chúng ta gặp ở đâu? But in casual speech, leaving it out is very common.

Mấy giờ means what time in the sense of clock time.

• Mấy = how many / what number
• Giờ = hour / o'clock / time

So Mấy giờ gặp? is literally something like Meet at what time?

A useful note: mấy giờ is best for asking about a specific time. If you want a more general when?, Vietnamese often uses khi nào or lúc nào.

This is normal in Vietnamese. Vietnamese question words usually stay in the position where the answer would go, rather than moving to the front like in English.

• Mấy giờ gặp? = Meet at what time?
• Gặp ở đâu? = Meet at where?

In the first sentence, the time expression comes before the verb. In the second, the location phrase comes after the verb. Both are natural because Vietnamese word order depends on the type of information being added.

Ở đâu means where.

• Ở is a preposition that often means at, in, or to be located at
• Đâu means where

So Gặp ở đâu? literally means Meet at where? In natural English, that becomes Where shall we meet?

You will see ở đâu very often in location questions:

• Bạn ở đâu? = Where are you? / Where do you live?
• Nhà vệ sinh ở đâu? = Where is the bathroom?

Here, phải means must or have to.

So:

• Tôi = I
• phải = must / have to
• về trước = go back first / leave earlier than others

Together, Tôi phải về trước means I have to leave first or I have to go back earlier

Be careful: phải can also mean correct in other contexts, as in đúng hay phải, but in this sentence it clearly means obligation.

Về usually means go back, return, or sometimes go home, depending on context. Trước means before or first.

So về trước means leave before the others, go back first, or head off earlier.

This is slightly different from simply saying về sớm:

• về trước = leave before someone else / leave first
• về sớm = leave early

In many situations, English might translate both as leave early, but the Vietnamese nuance is a little different.

Not always. Về often suggests going back to one's home, base, or usual place, but it does not always have to mean literally go home.

So Tôi phải về trước could mean:

• I have to go home earlier
• I have to head back first
• I have to leave before everyone else

The exact meaning depends on the situation.

Because in the third sentence, the speaker now needs to be specific about who has to leave early. In the first two questions, the missing subject is understood from context, so it can be omitted. In the third, saying tôi makes the message clear: I am the one who has to leave.

This is very natural in Vietnamese. Subjects are often omitted when obvious, but included when needed for clarity or emphasis.

It is natural, especially in casual conversation or texting. Native speakers often speak in short, compact phrases like this:

• Mấy giờ gặp?
• Gặp ở đâu?
• Tôi phải về trước.

A more complete or slightly smoother version might be:

• Mấy giờ mình gặp?
• Gặp ở đâu?
• Tôi phải về trước nhé.

But the original is absolutely understandable and natural in the right context.

Yes. Gặp nhau means meet each other, so it makes the mutual idea more explicit.

For example:

• Mấy giờ gặp nhau? = What time shall we meet?
• Gặp nhau ở đâu? = Where shall we meet?

In many situations, just gặp is enough, because the mutual meaning is already understood. Adding nhau can make it sound a little fuller or more explicit.

Yes, a few important ones:

• mấy has a rising-broken tone
• giờ has a falling tone
• gặp has a heavy, short tone at the end
• ở has a broken-rising tone
• đâu is level
• tôi is level
• phải has a broken-rising tone
• về has a falling tone
• trước has a broken-rising tone

A few pronunciation traps:

• giờ is not pronounced like English gear
• gặp ends abruptly; do not stretch it out
• trước contains a vowel combination that takes practice for English speakers

If your tones are off, people may still understand from context, but these words are much easier to recognize when the tones are close to correct.