Trọng tài dừng trận đấu.

• trọng tài = referee, umpire, or judge depending on context
• dừng = to stop
• trận đấu = match, game, or contest

So the sentence is literally Referee stop match, which in natural English becomes The referee stops the match or The referee stops the game.

It follows the very common Vietnamese pattern:

Subject + Verb + Object

So here:

• Trọng tài = subject
• dừng = verb
• trận đấu = object

That is one reason this sentence feels quite straightforward to English speakers.

Vietnamese usually does not use articles like English a/an/the.

So:

• trọng tài can mean a referee or the referee
• trận đấu can mean a match or the match

You understand which one is meant from context. In a real situation, Trọng tài dừng trận đấu will usually be understood as The referee stops the match.

Not always. Trọng tài can also mean arbiter or judge/arbitrator in some formal contexts, especially legal or dispute-resolution settings.

But with trận đấu right after it, the sports meaning is the natural one:

• trọng tài = referee/umpire

So the surrounding words help fix the meaning.

đấu by itself is related to competing, fighting, or contesting.
trận đấu is a full noun phrase meaning match, game, or contest.

A useful way to think about it:

• đấu often relates to the action of competing
• trận đấu refers to the event itself

So in this sentence, trận đấu is the natural object of dừng: the referee stops the match.

Yes. In this sentence, dừng is being used transitively, meaning to stop something.

So:

• dừng trận đấu = stop the match

Vietnamese also has forms like:

• dừng lại = stop / come to a stop

But dừng lại is often more intransitive, depending on context.
For example:

• Trận đấu dừng lại. = The match stops / comes to a halt.

By contrast:

• Trọng tài dừng trận đấu. = The referee stops the match.

So this sentence clearly shows an agent causing something else to stop.

Vietnamese verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So dừng can mean:

• stop
• stops
• stopped
• will stop

The time is usually understood from context or from time words/aspect markers.

For example:

• Trọng tài đã dừng trận đấu. = The referee stopped the match.
• Trọng tài đang dừng trận đấu. = The referee is stopping the match.
• Trọng tài sẽ dừng trận đấu. = The referee will stop the match.

Without those markers, the sentence is neutral and context decides.

It can be tricky because both syllables have tones, and the vowels are not exactly like English vowels.

Roughly:

• trọng has a heavy falling/glottalized tone
• tài has a rising tone

Two common difficulties:

1. Getting the tones right
2. Not flattening everything into English-style stress

Vietnamese is tonal, so tone matters for meaning. Even if your consonants and vowels are close, incorrect tones can make the word harder to understand.

Vietnamese usually keeps a direct Subject–Verb–Object order in simple statements.

So:

• Trọng tài = who does the action
• dừng = the action
• trận đấu = what is affected

This is similar to English:

• The referee stops the match

That makes many basic Vietnamese sentences easier for English speakers than they first expect.

You probably would not normally say that.

Trọng tài already works well by itself as the noun referee. Adding người is usually unnecessary here.

Natural:

• Trọng tài dừng trận đấu.

Less natural in this context:

• Người trọng tài dừng trận đấu.

Vietnamese often uses the bare noun directly when the meaning is already clear.

Yes, depending on what kind of event you mean.

Some possibilities:

• trò chơi = game/play activity
• cuộc thi = competition/contest
• hiệp đấu = round/bout/period of play
• trận bóng = football/soccer match, in some contexts

But trận đấu is a strong general choice for a sports match or competitive game.

So:

• Trọng tài dừng trận đấu sounds natural and standard.

You could add an aspect marker such as đang:

• Trọng tài đang dừng trận đấu.

This means The referee is stopping the match, though in real usage Vietnamese speakers might choose a more natural phrasing depending on the exact situation.

If you want the completed action:

• Trọng tài đã dừng trận đấu. = The referee has stopped / stopped the match

So Vietnamese often uses separate words to show aspect instead of changing the verb itself.