In Vietnamese, we use thế nào to ask “how”.
Structure
Place thế nào at the end of the sentence to ask “how”. The logic behind this is explained in placement of question words.
… + thế nào?
Examples
Asking about manner:
- 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:
- 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?
Usage notes
Common mistake: Note that it doesn’t require any verb to ask about condition or quality. A common mistake made by Vietnamese learners is using the verb là (“to be”) as if it was English, but this is wrong:
- Tình hình ở đó là thế nào? ❌
- Tình hình ở đó thế nào? ✅
How is the situation there?
Actually, it’s still grammatically correct to say là thế nào in Vietnamese, but not for that purpose. We use it to ask about definition, which is also the usage of là gì, so it basically means “what is/are”, not “how”, but the nuanced difference is là thế nào seeks a more in-depth explanation than là gì.
- Trầm cảm là gì?
What is depression? - Trầm cảm là thế nào?
What is depression (really)?yeah I know what depression is but need more explanation, more details.
We also use là thế nào to ask about relationships.
- Chúng ta là thế nào?
What are we? - Anh với cô ấy là thế nào?
What is your relationship with her?
When there is là, we can even move thế nào to the start of the sentence. This is an exception.
- Thế nào là thông minh?
What is being smart? (What does being smart mean?)
Finally, we can ask about opinions by adding thấy (“to see”, “to feel”) in.
- Con người ở đây thế nào?
How are the people here? - Anh thấy con người ở đây thế nào?
What do you think of the people here?