In Vietnamese, expressing quantities with numbers is quite straightforward, but it’s important to remember to use a measure word.
Basic structure
Structure
Place a number before the measure word of a noun to express a quantity.
number + measure word + noun
When the noun is understood from context, it’s acceptable to drop it.
number + measure word
If the noun doesn’t have a measure word, place the number before the noun.
number + noun
Examples
- một cái giường
one bed - ba cái ghế
three chairs - năm cái
five (instances of something) - sáu con
six (animals) - hai thành phố
two cities - mười quốc gia
ten countries
The one and only
If the number is “one”, and the noun has a measure word (otherwise it wouldn’t make sense), we can omit it. This is similar to “a/an” in English.
Structure
The structure looks like the basic measure word structure:
measure word + noun
Examples
- cái bàn
a table - cuốn sách
a book