Learn Hardcore Vietnamese: Tôi đang ho, đau họng và sổ mũi. - I am coughing, have a sore throat, and have a runny nose.

đang marks an action or state as happening right now or currently. In Tôi đang ho, it means I am coughing or I’m currently coughing.

A few useful points:

Tôi ho = I cough / I’m coughing depending on context
Tôi đang ho = I am coughing right now, with more emphasis on the present moment

In everyday Vietnamese, people sometimes drop đang if the time is already clear from context. But using it here is very natural when talking about current symptoms.

Why is đang only placed before ho and not before đau họng and sổ mũi too?

In a list like this, Vietnamese often uses đang just once, and its meaning can naturally extend over the whole list of symptoms.

So:

Tôi đang ho, đau họng và sổ mũi.

is understood as:

I’m coughing, have a sore throat, and have a runny nose.

You could repeat markers in longer or more emphatic speech, but it would usually sound less natural:

Tôi đang ho, đang đau họng và đang sổ mũi.

This is grammatical, but it feels repetitive in normal conversation.

Does đau họng literally mean hurt throat?