In Vietnamese, the phrase thế nào is used to express “how”.
Vietnamese is a wh-in-situ language, which means, in Vietnamese, the question words aren’t moved to the beginning of sentences, but rather stay in their original positions.
Asking about manner
Place thế nào at the end of the sentence.
Structure
Clause + thế nào?
Examples
- Học tiếng Việt thế nào?How to learn Vietnamese?
- Anh sửa nó thế nào?How did you fix it?
- Anh ấy đến đây thế nào?How did he get here?
Asking about condition or quality
The structure to ask about condition or quality, similar to “how is it?” or “what is it like?” in English, is the same as the one to ask about manner.
Structure
Topic + thế nào?
Examples
- Anh ấy dạo này thế nào?How has he been lately?
- Việt Nam bây giờ thế nào?How is Vietnam now?
- Trời hôm nay thế nào?How is the weather today?
Since English uses “to be” for this purpose, it may be tempting to use its Vietnamese equivalent là, but this is incorrect..
- Tình hình ở đó là thế nào? ❌
- Tình hình ở đó thế nào? ✔How is the situation there?
Asking opinions
This structure simply contains the structure to ask about condition or quality above.
Structure
Subj. + thấy + topic + thế nào?
This is like asking “what do you think of …?”
Examples
- Anh thấy con người ở đây thế nào?What do you think of the people here?