Lan muốn sống ở thành phố.

Vietnamese word order here is very similar to English:

• Lan = subject
• muốn = wants
• sống = live
• ở thành phố = in the city

So the pattern is:

Subject + muốn + verb + place

That is why Lan muốn sống ở thành phố matches English Lan wants to live in the city quite closely.

In Vietnamese, muốn is followed directly by a verb. You do not need a separate word meaning English to in this structure.

So:

• muốn sống = want to live
• muốn ăn = want to eat
• muốn đi = want to go

This is very common in Vietnamese grammar.

Muốn means to want or to wish to. It expresses desire or intention.

In this sentence, Lan muốn sống ở thành phố means Lan has the desire to live in the city.

Sống means to live. In this sentence, it refers to living somewhere, not just being alive.

For example:

• sống ở Hà Nội = live in Hanoi
• sống ở thành phố = live in the city

Here, ở introduces the location, so it works like in or at in English.

• sống ở thành phố = live in the city

A useful thing to know is that ở can also be a main verb in other sentences, meaning to be located, to stay, or sometimes to live, depending on context. But in this sentence, after sống, it is marking the place.

Yes, but the meaning changes a bit.

• Lan muốn sống ở thành phố = Lan wants to live in the city
• Lan muốn ở thành phố = Lan wants to stay/be in the city

Using sống makes it clearly about where she lives. Without sống, it can sound more like being or staying there rather than living there permanently.

Vietnamese does not use articles the way English does. There is no direct equivalent that must appear before every noun.

So thành phố can mean:

• the city
• a city
• sometimes just city/cities in a general sense

The exact meaning depends on context. In this sentence, if the translation says the city, that comes from context, not from a separate Vietnamese word.

By itself, thành phố simply means city. Whether it is understood as a city or the city depends on context.

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

• thành phố này = this city
• thành phố đó = that city
• một thành phố = a city

So in your sentence, thành phố is a general noun, and English chooses the city or a city based on context.

It is written as two separate syllables, thành phố, but together they form one compound noun meaning city.

This is normal in Vietnamese. Many words that function as a single vocabulary item are written as two separate syllables.

No. Vietnamese verbs do not change form the way English verbs do.

So:

• muốn stays muốn
• sống stays sống

Tense is usually understood from context or shown with time words such as:

• hôm nay = today
• ngày mai = tomorrow
• đã = past marker
• sẽ = future marker

In Lan muốn sống ở thành phố, there is no explicit tense marking. It simply means Lan wants to live in the city.

Because Vietnamese usually does not mark tense unless needed. This sentence expresses a present desire: right now, Lan wants something. The action sống ở thành phố may refer to a future plan, but that is understood naturally from the meaning of want.

If you wanted to make the future clearer, you could add a time expression, such as:

• Lan muốn sống ở thành phố trong tương lai = Lan wants to live in the city in the future

The tones are:

• Lan: level tone
• muốn: rising sharp tone
• sống: rising sharp tone
• ở: dipping-question tone
• thành: low falling tone
• phố: rising sharp tone

So tone marks matter a lot here. Changing the tone can change the word completely.

That is a good idea. While you can understand it word by word, sống ở + place is a very common pattern in Vietnamese.

Examples:

• sống ở Việt Nam = live in Vietnam
• sống ở nông thôn = live in the countryside
• sống ở thành phố = live in the city

Learning it as a pattern will help you speak more naturally.

Put không before muốn:

Lan không muốn sống ở thành phố.

That means Lan does not want to live in the city.

A common pattern is:

Subject + không + verb

Here, muốn is the verb being negated.

A very common way is:

Lan có muốn sống ở thành phố không?

This means Does Lan want to live in the city?

The pattern is:

Subject + có + verb + ... + không?

In casual speech, you may also hear shorter question forms depending on context, but the có ... không pattern is one of the safest and most useful for learners.