Bé đang ăn cơm.

to eat

Breakdown of Bé đang ăn cơm.

• đang: currently
• cơm: the cooked rice
• bé: the child; little one

Questions & Answers about Bé đang ăn cơm.

What does bé mean here?

Bé usually means a small child, little one, or baby/young kid, depending on context.

In this sentence, it refers to the child who is doing the action.

A few useful notes:

• It is commonly used for young children, not just babies.
• It can sound affectionate or cute.
• In real life, Vietnamese often leaves out words like the or a, so bé can mean the child, a child, or simply the little one, depending on the situation.

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Why is đang in the sentence?

Đang marks an action as in progress right now.

So:

• Bé ăn cơm = The child eats / is eating a meal (more neutral, depends on context)
• Bé đang ăn cơm = The child is eating right now

For an English speaker, đang is often similar to the be + -ing idea in English, though Vietnamese does not build it the same way grammatically.

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Can I say Bé ăn cơm without đang?

Yes.

Bé ăn cơm is perfectly natural. It just does not explicitly emphasize that the action is happening right now.