Tôi gửi hình cho Lan.

Here cho marks the recipient of the action.

So in Tôi gửi hình cho Lan:

• Tôi = subject
• gửi = verb
• hình = thing being sent
• cho Lan = to Lan / for Lan

With gửi, the pattern gửi something cho someone is very common.

Important: cho does not mean the main verb give here. It is part of the structure showing who receives the picture.

Vietnamese usually does not use articles like English a, an, or the.

So hình can mean:

• a picture
• the picture
• pictures

The exact meaning depends on context.

If you want to be more specific, you can add a number or classifier, for example:

• một tấm hình = one picture
• bức hình đó = that picture

But the bare noun hình is completely natural.

Not always.

In Vietnamese, classifiers are often used when you are:

• counting something
• specifying a single item
• making the noun phrase more concrete

So you can say:

• Tôi gửi hình cho Lan. = natural, general
• Tôi gửi một tấm hình cho Lan. = I send one picture to Lan
• Tôi gửi một bức hình cho Lan. = also natural

For casual speech, leaving the classifier out is very common.

Hình can mean picture, image, or photo, depending on context.

It is similar to ảnh, but there are some usage differences:

• ảnh often means photo
• hình can mean picture/image/photo more broadly
• In everyday speech, both are common and often overlap

In many situations, both would work:

• Tôi gửi hình cho Lan.
• Tôi gửi ảnh cho Lan.

Both are natural, though regional preference can differ.

Vietnamese word order here is very similar to English:

• Tôi = I
• gửi = send
• hình = picture
• cho Lan = to Lan

So the structure is basically:

subject + verb + object + recipient

That is why Tôi gửi hình cho Lan feels straightforward.

You may hear similar patterns, but Tôi gửi hình cho Lan is the most neutral and natural version for this sentence.

Vietnamese sometimes allows variation in word order, especially when:

• the object is longer
• the speaker wants to emphasize the recipient
• the sentence is part of a larger context

For a learner, the safest pattern is:

gửi + thing + cho + person

For example:

• Tôi gửi hình cho Lan.
• Tôi gửi một tấm hình cho Lan.

Not by itself.

Vietnamese verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do. The verb gửi stays the same.

So Tôi gửi hình cho Lan could mean different things depending on context, such as:

• I send a picture to Lan
• I am sending a picture to Lan
• I send pictures to Lan

If you want to make time clearer, you can add markers:

• Tôi đã gửi hình cho Lan. = I sent the picture to Lan
• Tôi đang gửi hình cho Lan. = I am sending the picture to Lan
• Tôi sẽ gửi hình cho Lan. = I will send the picture to Lan

Because Vietnamese verbs do not conjugate like English verbs.

The verb gửi stays gửi no matter who the subject is:

• Tôi gửi = I send
• Lan gửi = Lan sends
• Họ gửi = they send

Time is usually shown with:

• time words
• context
• aspect markers like đã, đang, sẽ

This is a major difference from English.

Sometimes yes, if the subject is already clear from context.

For example, in conversation, if everyone knows you are talking about yourself, you might simply say:

• Gửi hình cho Lan rồi.

But if you want a clear, complete sentence for a learner, Tôi gửi hình cho Lan is better.

Also, without Tôi, the sentence can sound more like:

• a note
• a message fragment
• an instruction
• something said in context rather than a full standalone statement

Yes. Vietnamese pronouns depend a lot on relationship, age, and social context.

Tôi is a neutral, safe word for I, but in real life people often use other pronouns such as:

• em
• anh
• chị
• con
• cháu
• mình

So depending on who is speaking, the sentence might become:

• Em gửi hình cho Lan.
• Anh gửi hình cho Lan.

The rest of the sentence stays the same.

A simple learner-friendly guide:

• Tôi: roughly like toy, but said more cleanly and with a level tone
• gửi: this one is harder; it has the hỏi tone, which dips and rises
• hình: has a falling tone
• cho: level tone
• Lan: level tone

Tone marks in the sentence:

• Tôi = no tone mark
• gửi = hỏi
• hình = huyền
• cho = no tone mark
• Lan = no tone mark

The hardest word for many English speakers is gửi, because both the vowel quality and the tone are unfamiliar.

Yes. Gửi is a broad verb and can be used for many kinds of sending, not just physical mail.

For example:

• gửi email = send an email
• gửi tin nhắn = send a message
• gửi hình = send a picture
• gửi tiền = send money

So in Tôi gửi hình cho Lan, the exact method is not stated. It could be by text, chat app, email, or something else, depending on context.

Because Lan is a proper name.

Vietnamese capitalizes personal names just like English does. So:

• Lan = a person’s name
• lan = not correct if you mean the name

In this sentence, Lan is simply the person receiving the picture.