Dân thành phố có cách sống khác.

Dân here means the people/residents of a place. In dân thành phố, it means city residents or city people as a group.

Compared with người:

• người = person / people, more general
• dân = residents, inhabitants, population of a place; sometimes citizens

So dân thành phố sounds like the people who live in the city. It has a slightly more collective feel than người thành phố.

This is a very common Vietnamese noun phrase pattern:

• dân = people / residents
• thành phố = city

Put together, dân thành phố literally works like city residents or people of the city.

Vietnamese often puts nouns next to each other like this, without needing a word like of. So instead of saying people of the city, Vietnamese can simply say dân thành phố.

Here có means have.

So:

• dân thành phố = city people
• có = have
• cách sống khác = a different way of living / a different lifestyle

So the structure is basically:

city people + have + a different way of living

This is a normal Vietnamese way to express something like have a different lifestyle.

Because có expresses having/possessing, while là is more like to be when linking nouns.

In this sentence, the idea is:

• city people have a different way of living

not

• city people are a different way of living

So có is the correct choice.

For example:

• Anh ấy có xe. = He has a car.
• Anh ấy là bác sĩ. = He is a doctor.

Here, cách sống khác is something the city people have, so có fits.

Cách sống literally means way of living.

• cách = way, method, manner
• sống = live / living

Together, cách sống means lifestyle, way of life, or how someone lives.

A useful comparison:

• cách sống = way of living, lifestyle
• cuộc sống = life, living situation, life in general

So cách sống khác is specifically about a different lifestyle, not just a different life.

Because in Vietnamese, descriptive words often come after the noun they describe.

So:

• cách sống khác = different lifestyle
  literally: lifestyle different

This is normal Vietnamese word order. English usually puts different before the noun, but Vietnamese puts khác after it.

Not always.

In this sentence, khác can stand alone because the comparison is understood from context. It means something like:

• city people have a different lifestyle

Different from whom? That may already be obvious from the conversation, for example:

• different from country people
• different from older generations
• different from people in another region

If you want to say the comparison explicitly, you can use khác với:

• Dân thành phố có cách sống khác với dân nông thôn.
  = City people have a lifestyle different from rural people.

So:

• khác = different
• khác với... = different from...

Vietnamese usually does not mark singular/plural or articles the way English does.

So dân thành phố can naturally mean:

• city people
• city residents
• the people in the city

The exact meaning depends on context.

Also, dân already has a collective meaning, so it naturally refers to a group. That is why you do not need an English-style plural ending like -s, and you do not need the or a.

Yes, you might hear người thành phố, and it can also mean city people. But there is a nuance:

• dân thành phố = residents/inhabitants of the city, more collective
• người thành phố = city people, often a bit more personal or descriptive

In many contexts, both are understandable, but dân thành phố is very natural when talking about the habits or characteristics of a group of residents.

It can be complete on its own.

Vietnamese often leaves the comparison unstated if it is obvious from context. So Dân thành phố có cách sống khác. can work as a general statement meaning:

• City people live differently.
• City residents have a different lifestyle.

However, in isolation, some listeners may expect more context and wonder different from whom? If you want to be more specific, you can add that information:

• Dân thành phố có cách sống khác với dân quê.
  = City people have a different lifestyle from country people.

So the short version is grammatical and natural, but context helps.

The tone marks are important because they change pronunciation and meaning.

In this sentence:

• dân: no tone mark on the vowel letter beyond â, so it has the level tone
• thành: huyền tone, a low/falling tone
• phố: sắc tone, rising
• có: sắc tone, rising
• cách: sắc tone, rising
• sống: sắc tone, rising
• khác: sắc tone, rising

Also remember:

• â in dân is a different vowel from plain a
• ô in phố and sống is also a different vowel quality from plain o

So even if two words look similar, the tone mark and vowel shape both matter.