In Vietnamese, đi is used to express “to go”.
Đi with places
The structure is basically the same as in English, but, in some cases, the preposition “to” (as in “to go to”) shouldn’t be included:
- Geographical locations like continents, countries, cities.
- When the intention is obvious. For example, the activity associated with “the market” is “buying food”; the purpose of “going to the market” is “to buy food”, not “to work out” or “to receive medical care”. (Note that this is just a generalisation, not a hard-and-fast rule.)
Structure
The structure without “to”:
đi + place
The structure with “to” using đến or tới (no difference in meaning):
đi + đến/tới + place
Examples
- đi Nhậtto go to Japan
- đi chợto go to the market
- đi biểnto go to the beach
- đi đến sân bayto go to the airport
- đi tới thư việnto go to the library
- đi đến ngân hàngto go to the bank
- Cuối tuần này chúng ta đi biển.We’ll go to the beach this weekend.
- Anh muốn đi Đức không?Do you want to go to Germany?
- Sáng mai tôi sẽ đi đến ngân hàng rút tiền.Tomorrow morning I’ll go to the bank to withdraw some money.
Đi with verbs
Place the verb after đi. The structure is similar to “to go to do”, “to go doing” or “to go and do” in English.
Structure
đi + verb
Examples
- đi làmto go to work
- đi họcto go to school (lit. go learning)
- đi bơito go swimming
- đi chơito go out, hang out (lit. go playing)
Usage note
“To go to school” is đi học, but “to go to the school” is đi đến trường.
“To go to hospital” is đi bệnh viện, but “to go to the hospital” is đi đến bệnh viện or simply đến bệnh viện.