Expressing “to go” with “đi”

In Vietnamese, we use đi to express “to go”. It may seem simple, but there are some noteworthy points about its usage.

Usage with places

First, we can use đi to express “to go to [place]”.

Structure

There are two structures: one with and one without a preposition. The one without a preposition is simpler: place đi before a noun indicating a place.

The structure with a preposition (“to”) looks more like the English equivalent: place đến right before the place. An alternative is tới (same meaning).

Usage note

In English, we say “to go to [place]”, and it’s just that simple. In Vietnamese, however, things are a bit more complicated: in some cases, the preposition “to” must be omitted, in some other cases, it must be included, and in the other cases, both options are OK.

In general, we omit the preposition “to” for:

• Named places like continents, countries, cities. Examples: đi Hà Nội (“to go to Hanoi”), đi Pháp (“to go to France”).
• Some (not all) general places that convey specific and obvious intentions. Examples:

  Vietnamese	English	Intention
  đi chợ	to go to the market	to buy things
  đi biển	to go to the beach	for a holiday
  đi tù	to go to prison	to serve a sentence
  đi nhà hàng	to go to restaurant	to dine

  These expressions can’t be used if we go to the place with a different intention. For example, if you want to express “to go to the market” for a different purpose instead of “to buy things”, you shouldn’t use đi chợ.

Examples

Usage with verbs

Second, we can use đi to express “to go [verb]-ing”.

Structure

Place đi before a verb to express “to go [verb]-ing” (it’s not always the best translation though).

Examples

Usage note

“To go to school” is đi học, but “to go to the school” is đi đến trường or đi tới trường (same meaning).