Tôi bị dị ứng.

I

Breakdown of Tôi bị dị ứng.

• bị: (passive marker)
• dị ứng: the allergy

Questions & Answers about Tôi bị dị ứng.

Why isn’t there a word for am in this sentence?

Vietnamese often does not use a separate verb like English to be in sentences about states or conditions.

So Tôi bị dị ứng already works as a complete sentence:

• Tôi = I
• bị dị ứng = have an allergy / be affected by an allergic reaction

You should not add là here.
Tôi là dị ứng is incorrect.

What does bị mean here?

Bị often shows that something unpleasant is happening to someone, or that someone is affected by a problem.

In health-related sentences, bị often means something like:

• have
• suffer from
• be affected by

So Tôi bị dị ứng means I have an allergy or I’m having an allergic reaction.

It is not exactly the same as the English passive, even though it sometimes feels a little similar.

What does dị ứng mean exactly?

Dị ứng means allergy or allergic reaction, and in many sentences it can also function like to be allergic.

That means the same expression can work in different ways depending on context:

• dị ứng thuốc = drug allergy
• Tôi dị ứng với tôm = I’m allergic to shrimp

So it is best to learn dị ứng as one unit rather than trying to translate each part separately.