Lan bơi ở hồ bơi.

Lan

Breakdown of Lan bơi ở hồ bơi.

• ở: at
• hồ bơi: the swimming pool
• bơi: to swim

Questions & Answers about Lan bơi ở hồ bơi.

What does each word in Lan bơi ở hồ bơi mean?

A natural word-by-word breakdown is:

• Lan = a female name
• bơi = to swim
• ở = at / in
• hồ bơi = swimming pool

So the sentence structure is basically:

• Lan
  • swims
    • at/in the swimming pool

Why does bơi appear twice in the sentence?

They are not doing the same job, even though they look the same.

• The first bơi is a verb: to swim
• The second bơi is part of the noun hồ bơi: swimming pool

So:

• bơi = swim
• hồ bơi = pool

This kind of repetition is completely normal in Vietnamese.

What does ở mean here?

In this sentence, ở marks location. It often means:

• at
• in
• sometimes to stay/live at, depending on context

Here, it connects the action to the place:

• bơi ở hồ bơi = swim at the pool / swim in the swimming pool

English may choose at or in, but Vietnamese uses ở very naturally for location in general.