Tôi bón cho cây và tỉa lá héo.

In this sentence, bón means to fertilize or to apply plant food/nutrients.

It is commonly used when talking about gardening or farming, especially in phrases like:

• bón phân = to apply fertilizer
• bón cho cây = to fertilize/feed the plant

So bón is more specific than a general verb like put. It suggests giving something nourishing to the plant.

Here, cho marks the recipient or target of the action, similar to for or to in English.

So:

• bón cho cây = fertilize the plant / apply fertilizer to the plant

It shows that the action is being done for the plant.

In many contexts, Vietnamese uses cho this way after verbs to show who or what receives the action.

Here, cây is a noun, meaning plant or sometimes tree, depending on context.

That matters because cây can also be a classifier in other sentences, for example:

• một cây bút = one pen
• hai cây dừa = two coconut trees

But in bón cho cây, it is not functioning as a classifier. It is the thing being cared for: the plant.

It most naturally means plant here.

Although cây can mean tree, the combination bón cho cây and tỉa lá héo sounds like general plant care, so English learners will usually understand it as plant unless the wider context clearly refers to a tree.

Vietnamese often uses cây broadly for growing plants, not only large trees.

Because the subject is the same for both actions.

• Tôi bón cho cây = I fertilize the plant
• (Tôi) tỉa lá héo = (I) trim the wilted leaves

When two verbs are connected by và and have the same subject, Vietnamese often states the subject once and leaves it understood after that.

English can do something similar:

• I watered the plant and trimmed the dead leaves.

You do not need to say I twice there either.

Not exactly.

tỉa means to trim, prune, or snip away selectively. It suggests carefully removing parts, often to improve the plant.

cắt is a more general verb meaning to cut.

So:

• tỉa lá héo = trim/prune off wilted leaves
• cắt lá = cut leaves

If you want to express careful gardening, tỉa is the better word.

Because in Vietnamese, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

• lá héo = wilted leaves
• literally: leaves wilted

This is a very common word order pattern in Vietnamese:

• hoa đẹp = beautiful flowers
• nhà lớn = big house
• áo mới = new shirt

It can be either, depending on context.

Vietnamese nouns usually do not change form for singular or plural. So:

• lá héo can mean a wilted leaf
• or wilted leaves

In a gardening sentence like this, English often translates it as wilted leaves, because trimming usually involves more than one leaf, but the Vietnamese itself does not force that meaning.

If the speaker wanted to make plurality clearer, they could say something like:

• những lá héo = the wilted leaves / some wilted leaves

Vietnamese often leaves tense and aspect to context instead of marking them directly on the verb.

So Tôi bón cho cây và tỉa lá héo could mean different things depending on the situation:

• I fertilize the plant and trim the wilted leaves
• I am fertilizing the plant and trimming the wilted leaves
• I fertilized the plant and trimmed the wilted leaves

If the speaker wants to make time clearer, they can add words such as:

• đã = past
• đang = ongoing
• sẽ = future

For example:

• Tôi đang bón cho cây và tỉa lá héo. = I am fertilizing the plant and trimming the wilted leaves.

Both can be natural, but bón phân cho cây is more explicit.

• bón cho cây = fertilize/feed the plant
• bón phân cho cây = apply fertilizer to the plant

When the context already makes it obvious that fertilizer is meant, native speakers may shorten it to bón cho cây. But if you want to be very clear, especially as a learner, bón phân cho cây is a very safe and natural choice.

Sometimes yes, especially in casual speech, but keeping và is clear and natural.

With và:

• Tôi bón cho cây và tỉa lá héo.

Without và:

• Tôi bón cho cây, tỉa lá héo.

The version with và clearly links the two actions as and. The version without it can still sound natural in conversation, but it may feel slightly more compressed or list-like.

For learners, using và is usually the best choice.

Yes.

In Vietnamese, a noun followed by an adjective can often work like a simple noun phrase:

• lá héo = wilted leaves / leaves that are wilted

Vietnamese does not always sharply separate these two English-style interpretations. In practice, both refer to the leaves in a wilted condition, and the difference usually does not matter.

Yes, that is a good way to understand it.

The structure is:

• Tôi = subject
• bón cho cây = first verb phrase
• và = and
• tỉa lá héo = second verb phrase

So the pattern is roughly:

Subject + action 1 + và + action 2

That makes this a very useful sentence pattern for learners. You can build many similar sentences:

• Tôi tưới cây và nhổ cỏ. = I water the plants and pull weeds.
• Tôi quét nhà và rửa chén. = I sweep the house and wash dishes.