Hôm nay trời mát mẻ.

today

Breakdown of Hôm nay trời mát mẻ.

• trời: the weather
• mát mẻ: pleasantly cool

Questions & Answers about Hôm nay trời mát mẻ.

What does each part of Hôm nay trời mát mẻ do in the sentence?

• Hôm nay = today
• trời = sky, but very often it means the weather
• mát mẻ = cool, pleasantly cool, fresh

So the structure is basically:

Today + weather + cool/pleasant

A very natural English rendering is The weather is cool today or Today the weather is nice and cool.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

Vietnamese often does not use a verb like English to be when describing something with an adjective.

So in English:

• The weather is cool

But in Vietnamese:

• Trời mát mẻ

There is no need to add a separate word for is here. This is completely normal Vietnamese sentence structure.

Why is trời used here? Doesn’t it mean sky?

Yes, trời literally can mean sky or heaven, but in everyday Vietnamese it is also very commonly used when talking about weather.

For example:

• Trời nóng. = The weather is hot.
• Trời lạnh. = The weather is cold.
• Trời đẹp. = The weather is nice.

So in Hôm nay trời mát mẻ, trời is best understood as the weather.