In Vietnamese, à (as well as hả) is used to form biased yes-no questions.
Biased yes-no questions are used to seek confirmation of something the speaker assumes to be true.
Structure
Add à to the end of a statement.
Statement + à?
An alternative to à is hả, which is more common (and even preferred) in the Southern dialect.
Statement + hả?
When asking questions like this, the speaker assumes that the statement is true (at least to some extent) and seeks confirmation from the listener. This type of questions is not for asking questions without any assumption, for which a more suitable option is neutral yes-no questions.
Examples
The examples below are translated into English with “right?”, but it is not really correct to do so. The thing with this type of sentences is that their meanings rely on the semantics and pragmatics of the particle à, which doesn’t have an equivalent in English (as is the case with every Vietnamese particle). Because of this, it is hard to translate these questions into English; “right?” is just the closest possible translation.
- Hôm nay anh không đến à?You aren’t coming today, right?
- Cô ấy biết bơi à?She can swim, right?
- Anh cũng là lập trình viên à?You are also a developer, right?
How to answer
There are three answers to a biased yes-no question: “yes”, “no” and “confirmed”.
A “yes” or “no” answer is similar to that to neutral yes-no questions.
The third answer — “confirmed” — is a concept which doesn’t exist in English. This answer is used to confirm that what the asker assumes is true. In other words, if the question statement is positive, then answering “confirmed” is the same as answering “yes”, and if the question statement is negative, then answering “confirmed” is the same as answering “no”.
A “confirmed” answer is given by a word indicating confirmation, of which there are two:
- ừ, which conveys intimacy and relaxation and is used in casual settings with people of equal or lower age/status/etc.
- vâng, which shows respect and politeness and is used in formal contexts or with people of higher age/status/etc.
The weak form of ừ is ờ, which sounds even more casual.
In the Southern dialect, dạ is used instead of vâng (which is uncommon). However, technically, dạ isn’t actually a word indicating confirmation because it can be used to answer “yes” to negative questions and “no” to positive questions as well.
- A:Anh là bác sĩ à?You are a doctor, right?
- B:Ừ. / Ừ, đúng rồi. / Vâng. / Vâng, đúng rồi. / Vâng, tôi là bác sĩ.Yes. / Yes. / Yes. / Yes. / Yes, I’m a doctor.
- A:Anh là bác sĩ à?You are a doctor, right?
- B:Không. / Không phải. / Không, tôi không phải. / Không, tôi không phải là bác sĩ.No. / No. / No, I’m not. / No, I’m not a doctor.
- A:Anh không phải là bác sĩ à?You aren’t a doctor, right?
- B:Có. / Có phải. / Có, tôi đúng là bác sĩ.Yes. / YES. / Yes, I’m a doctor.
- A:Anh không phải là bác sĩ à?You aren’t a doctor, right?
- B:Ừ. / Ừ, tôi không phải. / Vâng. / Vâng, tôi không phải.No. / No, I’m not. / No. / No, I’m not.
- A:Anh biết bơi à?You can swim, right?
- B:Ừ. / Ừ, tôi biết. / Vâng. / Vâng, tôi biết.Yes. / Yes, I do. / Yes. / Yes, I do.
- A:Anh biết bơi à?You can swim, right?
- B:Không. / Không, tôi không biết.No. / No, I don’t.
- A:Anh không biết bơi à?You can’t swim, right?
- B:Có. / Biết. / Có biết. / Tôi có. / Tôi có biết.Yes. / Yes. / YES. / Yes, I do. / YES, I DO.
- A:Anh không biết bơi à?You can’t swim, right?
- B:Ừ. / Ừ, tôi không biết. / Vâng. / Vâng, tôi không biết.No. / No, I don’t.