Xe máy cần dầu nhớt mới.

A word-by-word breakdown is:

• xe máy = motorbike / motorcycle / scooter
• cần = to need
• dầu nhớt = motor oil / engine oil / lubricating oil
• mới = new

So the sentence structure is basically:

• Xe máy
  • cần
    • dầu nhớt mới
• The motorbike
  • needs
    • new engine oil

In Vietnamese, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

• dầu nhớt mới = new engine oil
• literally: oil new

This is normal Vietnamese word order. English usually puts adjectives before nouns, but Vietnamese usually puts them after.

More examples:

• xe mới = new vehicle
• nhà lớn = big house
• áo đẹp = beautiful shirt

It can cover all of those depending on context, but in everyday Vietnamese, xe máy usually refers to the common two-wheeled motor vehicle people ride around town—often what English speakers might call a motorbike or scooter.

So in learning materials, motorbike is often the most natural translation.

Cần means to need.

In this sentence, it works like the English verb need:

• Xe máy cần dầu nhớt mới = The motorbike needs new engine oil.

It does not change form for person or number, so:

• Tôi cần... = I need...
• Nó cần... = It needs...
• Xe máy cần... = The motorbike needs...

Vietnamese verbs do not conjugate the way English verbs do.

Dầu nhớt usually refers specifically to lubricating oil, especially engine oil for vehicles or machines.

So in this sentence, it is better understood as:

• engine oil
• motor oil

rather than just general oil.

In real-life usage, people may also say things like:

• thay dầu = change the oil
• dầu máy = machine/engine oil

But dầu nhớt is perfectly natural here.

Vietnamese normally does not use articles like English a, an, and the.

So xe máy can mean:

• a motorbike
• the motorbike
• motorbikes

depending on context.

Likewise, dầu nhớt mới can mean:

• new engine oil
• some new engine oil
• the new engine oil

Context tells you which one is meant.

Vietnamese often leaves tense unmarked unless time is important.

So Xe máy cần dầu nhớt mới by itself is understood from context, and in most ordinary situations it means something like a present-time statement:

• The motorbike needs new engine oil.

If you wanted to make time clearer, you could add words such as:

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

Examples:

• Xe máy đã cần dầu nhớt mới = The motorbike needed new engine oil / had come to need new engine oil.
• Xe máy sẽ cần dầu nhớt mới = The motorbike will need new engine oil.

Good question. Mới has more than one use in Vietnamese.

Here, in dầu nhớt mới, it is an adjective meaning new.

But mới can also appear in other structures with different meanings, such as:

• Tôi mới ăn = I just ate.
• mới... đã... = no sooner... than...

So yes, mới can mean different things, but in this sentence it clearly means new because it comes after the noun dầu nhớt and describes it.

It is close in meaning, but not exactly the same.

Xe máy cần dầu nhớt mới literally says the motorbike needs new engine oil.

In natural context, that often implies that the oil should be replaced, so an English speaker might interpret it as The motorbike needs an oil change.

But if you want to say that more directly in Vietnamese, you would often say:

• Xe máy cần thay dầu nhớt.
• Xe máy cần được thay dầu nhớt.

Those mean more specifically:

• The motorbike needs its oil changed.

Vietnamese classifiers are common, but they are not required in every sentence.

A classifier such as chiếc can be added if you want a more specific noun phrase:

• Chiếc xe máy cần dầu nhớt mới.

This can feel a bit more like:

• The motorbike needs new engine oil.

Without the classifier, xe máy is still completely natural, especially in simple statements.

It is understandable and grammatically fine, but in everyday speech, Vietnamese speakers might more often say something a bit more specific, such as:

• Xe máy cần thay dầu nhớt. = The motorbike needs an oil change.
• Xe máy cần thêm dầu nhớt mới. = The motorbike needs more new oil.
• Xe máy này cần dầu nhớt mới. = This motorbike needs new engine oil.

Your original sentence is still useful for learning because it clearly shows:

• Subject + cần + noun phrase
• and the adjective-after-noun pattern in dầu nhớt mới

Yes. This sentence pattern is very reusable:

• Ô tô cần dầu nhớt mới. = The car needs new engine oil.
• Xe tải cần dầu nhớt mới. = The truck needs new engine oil.
• Máy này cần dầu nhớt mới. = This machine needs new lubricating oil.

So a very useful pattern is:

• [thing] + cần + [noun] + [adjective]

For example:

• Xe cần lốp mới. = The vehicle needs new tires.
• Máy cần pin mới. = The device needs a new battery.