Tôi đau họng.

Tôi means I, but it is not the only Vietnamese word for I.

Vietnamese pronouns depend a lot on age, relationship, and social situation. Tôi is neutral, polite, and fairly safe, especially:

• when speaking to strangers
• in formal situations
• when talking to medical staff

In everyday conversation, people often use other pronouns instead, such as em, anh, chị, con, or cháu, depending on who they are talking to.

So Tôi đau họng is correct and natural, but in real life someone might also say:

• Em đau họng
• Con đau họng

Because Vietnamese does not have to copy the English structure.

A very common Vietnamese pattern is:

[person] + đau + [body part]

So Tôi đau họng is literally something like:

• I hurt throat
• or more naturally, my throat hurts

Vietnamese often expresses physical pain this way instead of using a verb like have.

Because in Vietnamese, body parts are often understood to belong to the subject unless there is a reason to specify otherwise.

So in Tôi đau họng, it is naturally understood as my throat hurts. You do not need to say my.

If you really wanted to emphasize ownership, you could say something like họng của tôi, but that would usually sound unnecessary here.

It behaves a bit like both, which is normal in Vietnamese.

In English, learners often want to label words very strictly as verb or adjective, but Vietnamese does not always work the same way. In this sentence, đau expresses a state of pain, so it can be understood as something like:

• hurt
• ache
• be painful

The important thing is the sentence pattern, not the label:

• Tôi đau đầu = I have a headache / My head hurts
• Tôi đau bụng = I have a stomachache / My stomach hurts
• Tôi đau họng = My throat hurts / I have a sore throat

Yes, but họng and cổ are different.

• họng = throat
• cổ = neck

So:

• đau họng = sore throat
• đau cổ = neck pain

You may also hear cổ họng, which means throat as well. But in the fixed everyday expression for this symptom, đau họng is very common and natural.

No. Tôi đau họng is already complete and natural.

But Tôi bị đau họng is also common. Adding bị can make it sound a little more like:

• I’m suffering from a sore throat
• I’ve got a sore throat

So both are correct:

• Tôi đau họng
• Tôi bị đau họng

The version without bị is shorter and very common.

The most basic and natural order is:

Tôi đau họng

That is the standard way to say it.

A sentence like Họng tôi đau or Cổ họng tôi đau is possible, but it sounds more marked or more like you are emphasizing the throat specifically, for example in contrast with another body part.

So for a learner, the safest pattern is:

• Tôi đau họng
• Tôi đau đầu
• Tôi đau lưng

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• tôi ≈ toy
• đau ≈ dow (like the start of down)
• họng ≈ something like hawng/hong with a short, heavy, low tone

Tone-wise:

• tôi has a level tone
• đau has a level tone
• họng has the nặng tone, which is low, short, and heavy

A few pronunciation notes:

• đ is not the same as d in Vietnamese; đ is closer to an English d
• the final ng in họng should be pronounced clearly
• họng is the hardest part because of the tone and final sound

Not exactly.

• đau họng describes the symptom: your throat hurts
• viêm họng is more like a medical condition or diagnosis: throat inflammation / pharyngitis

So someone with viêm họng will often đau họng, but đau họng by itself does not always mean the person has that specific diagnosis.

In everyday speech, if you just want to say the symptom, đau họng is the normal choice.