In Vietnamese, we use nào to ask “which”.
Structure
Place nào after a measure word or a noun to ask “which”. Its position in the sentence follows the placement of question words.
measure word + nào
noun + nào
or both:
measure word + noun + nào
Examples
- Anh chọn cái nào?
Which one do you choose? - Con nào nặng nhất?
Which one is the heaviest? - Chúng ta nên học ngôn ngữ nào?
Which language should we learn?
Usage notes
The first structure places nào right after a measure word without specifying any noun. This is like saying “which one” in English. For this structure, remember to use the correct measure word. If there are more than one measure word, use cái as a middle-ground solution. For example, if option A is con mèo (“cat”), and option B is cuốn sách (“book”), then there is a conflict of measure words. Because of this, in this case, we have to use cái, so “which one” will be cái nào.
If a noun doesn’t have a measure word, then the second structure is the only option, of course. Otherwise, we have two options: either adding a measure word or not. However, there is a subtle difference between them: adding a measure word refers to each instance while omitting it refers to the general type.
- quả táo nào
which apple - táo nào
which variety/cultivar of apples
- cuốn sách nào
which book - sách nào
which genre of books