Sàn nhà còn bẩn.

The floor is still dirty.

Breakdown of Sàn nhà còn bẩn.

• bẩn: dirty
• còn: still
• sàn nhà: the floor (home)

Questions & Answers about Sàn nhà còn bẩn.

What does each word in Sàn nhà còn bẩn mean?

• sàn nhà = floor / house floor
• còn = still
• bẩn = dirty

So the structure is basically:

subject + still + adjective

In natural English, this is The floor is still dirty.

Why is there no word for is in the sentence?

Vietnamese often does not use a verb like to be when linking a noun to an adjective.

So instead of saying something literally like floor is dirty, Vietnamese simply says:

• Sàn nhà bẩn = The floor is dirty
• Sàn nhà còn bẩn = The floor is still dirty

This is very common with adjectives in Vietnamese.

What does còn mean here exactly?

Here, còn means still. It shows that the situation continues and has not changed yet.

So Sàn nhà còn bẩn suggests something like:

• the floor was dirty before,
• and it is dirty now as well.

Very often, còn carries a sense of it hasn’t been cleaned yet or the expected change has not happened.

Is bẩn a verb or an adjective?