In Vietnamese, we use ở to talk about places, like “in” and “at” in English.
Structure
Place ở before a noun indicating a place to express “in/at”.
ở + place
If there is some action involved, the verb goes before ở.
verb (+ obj.) + ở + place
Examples
- Tôi ở nhà.I’m at home.
- Anh ấy ở Hà Nội.He’s in Hanoi. (can also mean “He lives in Hanoi.”)
- Nó ở đâu?Where is it?
- Tôi sống ở Huế.I live in Huế.
- Anh ấy làm việc ở nước ngoài.He works abroad.
- Anh thích xem phim ở rạp không?Do you like watching films at the cinema?
Usage note
Common mistake: Note that it doesn’t require any verb to express “to be in/at”. A common mistake made by Vietnamese learners is using the verb là (“to be”) as if it was English, but this is wrong:
- Tôi là ở công viên. ❌
- Tôi ở công viên. ✔I’m at the park.