Cầu thủ phạm lỗi.

• cầu thủ = player, athlete, or in many contexts footballer / soccer player
• phạm = to commit or to violate
• lỗi = fault, error, mistake, or in sports often foul

So word-for-word, the sentence is something like player commit fault/foul.

Because phạm lỗi is a very common Vietnamese combination meaning to commit a fault, to make an error, or in sports to commit a foul.

Even though:

• phạm can mean commit / violate
• lỗi can mean fault / error / mistake

in real usage, the combination works like a set expression. So learners should remember phạm lỗi as a useful chunk.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Most likely meanings:

• in a sports context: The player committed a foul
• in a more general context: The player made a mistake or The player was at fault

Because you said the meaning has already been shown to the learner, the context probably decides which English translation is intended. Vietnamese often leaves this kind of detail to context.

Vietnamese usually does not require articles like English a, an, and the.

So:

• cầu thủ can mean a player, the player, or just player(s) in a general sense

The exact meaning depends on context.

If the speaker wants to be more specific, they can add other words, but very often Vietnamese simply leaves articles unstated.

Vietnamese often does not mark tense unless it is necessary.

So Cầu thủ phạm lỗi could mean:

• The player commits a foul
• The player committed a foul
• The player is committing a foul

In practice, context tells you the time. If needed, Vietnamese can add time words or aspect markers, such as:

• đã for past
• đang for ongoing action
• sẽ for future

For example:

• Cầu thủ đã phạm lỗi = The player committed a foul
• Cầu thủ đang phạm lỗi = The player is committing a foul

Yes, it is basically Subject + Verb + Object/Complement, which is very familiar to English speakers.

• Cầu thủ = subject
• phạm = verb
• lỗi = object

So the structure is very close to English:

• The player committed a foul

That makes this sentence relatively straightforward for English speakers.

By itself, cầu thủ does not clearly show singular or plural.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• a player
• the player
• players in some broader contexts, though singular is more likely here

If Vietnamese wants to make plurality clearer, it can add words such as:

• các cầu thủ = the players / players
• những cầu thủ = players / some players

So Cầu thủ phạm lỗi is most naturally understood as A/The player committed a foul, but context is still important.

A rough learner-friendly guide is:

• cầu — something like kuh-oo said with a low/falling tone
• thủ — roughly too with a dipping/rising tone
• phạm — roughly fahm with a heavy, low, short tone
• lỗi — roughly loy with a creaky rising tone

A few important notes:

• th in Vietnamese is not the English th sound in think. It is more like an aspirated t.
• The tones matter a lot.
• English spelling cannot represent Vietnamese pronunciation perfectly, so it is best to listen to native audio if possible.

It is written as two words: cầu thủ.

But functionally, it acts as a single noun meaning player or athlete. This is very common in Vietnamese: many everyday vocabulary items are written as two separate syllables but form one lexical unit.

So when learning, it is best to memorize cầu thủ as one vocabulary item.

Usually, cầu thủ is the better choice here, especially in sports.

• cầu thủ = a sports player, especially a football/soccer player or athlete
• người chơi = literally person who plays, which can sound more general and less natural in this context

So for a sentence about a sports foul, Cầu thủ phạm lỗi is much more natural than Người chơi phạm lỗi.

Because lỗi is mainly a noun meaning fault, error, or mistake. To express the action to commit a fault / make an error, Vietnamese commonly uses a verb plus lỗi, such as phạm lỗi.

So:

• lỗi alone = fault / error
• phạm lỗi = to commit a foul / to make a mistake

This is similar to how English often says commit a crime rather than just using crime as a verb.

You can add time markers, articles-by-context words, or more detail. For example:

• Cầu thủ đó phạm lỗi. = That player committed a foul.
• Một cầu thủ phạm lỗi. = A player committed a foul.
• Cầu thủ đã phạm lỗi. = The player committed a foul.
• Cầu thủ này phạm lỗi với đối phương. = This player fouled the opponent.

Vietnamese often starts with a simple sentence like Cầu thủ phạm lỗi, then adds details only if needed.