Đừng phá cửa.

don't

Breakdown of Đừng phá cửa.

• cửa: the door
• phá: to break or destroy

Questions & Answers about Đừng phá cửa.

What does đừng mean here?

Đừng is used to tell someone not to do something. It is a very common way to make a negative command in Vietnamese.

So:

• Đừng phá cửa. = Don’t break the door.

A simple pattern is:

• Đừng + verb

Examples:

• Đừng đi. = Don’t go.
• Đừng nói. = Don’t speak.
• Đừng chạm vào đó. = Don’t touch that.

Why is there no word for you in the sentence?

Vietnamese often leaves out the subject when it is already clear from the situation, especially in commands and warnings.

So Đừng phá cửa. naturally means:

• Don’t break the door
• or more literally, Don’t break door

In real conversation, you could add a pronoun if needed:

• Anh đừng phá cửa. = You, sir / older brother figure, don’t break the door.
• Em đừng phá cửa. = You, younger person, don’t break the door.
• Mày đừng phá cửa. = You, don’t break the door. Very informal / rude depending on context.

Leaving the pronoun out is very normal.

What does phá mean exactly?

Phá usually means to break, to damage, to smash, or sometimes , depending on context.