Tôi cần vay thêm tiền.

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Breakdown of Tôi cần vay thêm tiền.

• cần: to need
• thêm: more
• tiền: the money

Questions & Answers about Tôi cần vay thêm tiền.

Why is there no word for to in Tôi cần vay thêm tiền?

Vietnamese often does not use an equivalent of English to before a verb in this kind of structure.

• cần = need
• vay = borrow / take out a loan

So cần vay literally works like need borrow, but in natural English we say need to borrow.

This is very normal in Vietnamese:

• Tôi muốn ăn. = I want to eat.
• Tôi cần đi. = I need to go.

So Tôi cần vay thêm tiền is a standard Vietnamese structure.

What does vay mean exactly? Is it the same as mượn?

Not exactly.

vay is usually used for borrowing money, especially in situations involving debt, repayment, or loans.

mượn means borrow more generally, often for objects, and can also be used for money in some contexts.

A simple way to remember it:

• vay tiền = borrow money / take a loan
• mượn sách = borrow a book
• mượn xe = borrow a bike/car

So in Tôi cần vay thêm tiền, vay is the best choice because the object is tiền and the idea is financial borrowing.

What does thêm mean here?