Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 0 of 26
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
……..………
VERB PHRASE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu
Student: Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tho _ 5CQDP
HCMC, 30/12/2009
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 1 of 26
ABSTRACT
It is very difficult to understand the structure, sentence, clause or text of any
language without analyzing the components which form them. These components are
very various and complicated. They may be word phrases such as noun phrase, verb
phrase, adverb phrase or adjective phrase... In linguistics, verb phrase is considered a
complicated term, especially in Vietnamese. In fact, many Vietnamese authors of
grammatical books agree that Vietnamese verb phrase is so various in terms of form
and meaning and it is used not only in daily life but also in literature. In different
language, verb phrase has different ways to form. English also has its own ways to form
verb phrases. Therefore, this paper help us have information about verb phrase in
English and Vietnamese in a contrastive view of formation. Furthermore, at the end of
this paper, I will discuss some implications for language teaching. I hope that through
this topic, readers will know the similarities and differences of verb phrase in English
and in Vietnamese.
Definition
Verb phrase is a free word phrase having main- subordinate relation and
containing a verb serve as the central element and many additive elements which
modify the meanings for the central element (the information of Giáo trình ngữ pháp
Tiếng Việt tập II, 80)
Characteristics

verb phrase always contains a verb as the central element.

the central element usually governs additive elements.
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 2 of 26
Verb Phrase in English
Verb phrase in English includes three main components:

auxiliaries

main or lexical verbs

complementation
the formation of English verb phrase is: auxiliary + main verb + complementation
1. Auxiliaries
Auxiliaries are used to encode the following categories within the verb phrase:
*Aspect is expressed by using either the verb be and the present participle for the
progressive aspect or the verb have with a past participle for the perfect aspect.
Formation:
Progress: to be + V_ing
Is/am/are + V_ing
Eg: He is doing his homework now.
I am thinking of you now.
They are swimming now.
Was/were + V_ing
Eg: He was studying philosophy.
They were having their breakfast at 8 o’clock yesterday
Will/may/must/can/could/should/would/might + be + V_ing
Eg: Tom must be staying at Thang Long Hotel at the moment.
Tom will be coming back tomorrow.
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 3 of 26
Has/have been + V_ing
Had been + V_ing
Eg: They have been living here for three years.
He has been learning English for four years.
They had been meeting in the zoo.
Perfect: has/have/had + main verb (past participle)
Eg: I have learned English for three years.
He has worked for that company since 1992.
Mai had gone to London before she moved here.
*Modality is expressed with the auxiliaries can, could, may, might, must, will, would,
shall, should, ought to, dare and used to
Formation: modal + verb (bare infinitive)
Eg: He can sing
You should stay at home.
You ought to finish your work before going out.
I used to fly a kite when I was a little boy.
*Passive voice is expressed by using the verb be and a main verb in the past participle
form.
Formation: to be + verb (past participle)
Is/am/are + verb (past participle)
Eg: He is punished
They are beaten
I am kicked by him
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 4 of 26
Was/were + verb (past participle)
Eg: The window was broken
Only a few fish were caught by the fishermen.
Has/have/had + been + verb (past participle)
Eg: Wolves have been seen in the streets.
His name has been forgotten
May/will/would/might/can/could/must/should/have to + be + verb (past participle)
Eg: These doors must be shut.
A song can be sung by her.
Is/am/are + being + verb (past participle)
Eg: The bridge is being repaired.
Was/were + being + verb (past participle)
Eg: A house was being built by him.
Has/have/had + been + being + verb (past participle)
Eg: English has been being learned by them.
All these cakes have been being eaten by them.
Rice had been being cooked by my mother.
May/might/will/would/can/could/should/must + have
+
participle)
Eg: He should have been punished.
All the decorating will have been finished by the weekend.
She should have been informed about the delay.
been +
verb (past
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 5 of 26
*Interrogative clauses are using by the auxiliary do/does/did before the subject and a
main verb in the plain form.
Eg: Do you want that house?
Did you meet him yesterday?
*Negation is expressed by using the auxiliary don’t/doesn’t/didn’t and a main verb in
the plain form
Eg: I don’t want that house.
I didn’t meet him yesterday.
All the auxiliaries I have mentioned can be remembered easily through this table
(“hypertextbooks grammar” website)
Some Examples of the Verb Phrase in English
FUNCTION Auxiliaries
Main Verb
(a)
do
E
(b)
can
X
(c)
may
A
(d)
M
(e)
P
(f)
L
(g)
believe
go
have
has
might have
gone
is
going
been
waiting
been
waiting
were
hired
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
E
(h)
S
(i)
should
be
(j)
might have
been
FORM
are
being
Page 6 of 26
hired
trying
being
interviewed
Modal Perfect Progressive Passive Auxiliary Support Main Verb
2. Main verb
According to the information of the “grammarpedia” website, the English verb includes
following types:
*Intransitive verb: come, go, move...
Eg: He has just come.
*Complex intransitive verb + complement/ adverb: to be, become...
Eg: They became close friends three years ago.
*Transitive verb + object direct: buy, sell...
Eg: They have just bought a new car.
*Complex transitive verb + object direct +complement/ adverb: paint, vote, appoint,
elect...
Eg: He painted this door blue.
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 7 of 26
Ms Giang was appointed the manager last week.
*Distransitive verb + object indirect + object direct: give, offer, bring...
Eg: He gave her a red rose on her birthday.
Distransitive verb: gave
Object direct: her
Object indirect: a red rose
These verbs can be made understandable through this table
(S = subject, V = verb, O = object, Oi = indirect object, Od = direct object, PC =
predicative complement)
Transitivity type
Basic Constituents Example
Intransitive
SV
Sarah sneezed.
Complex intransitive S V PC
Sarah is a teacher.
Transitive
SVO
Sarah ate an apple.
Complex transitive
S V O PC
Sarah considers George a genius.
Ditransitive
S V O i Od
Sarah gave Debbie a book.
3. Complementation
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 8 of 26
In English verb phrases, the main verb sometimes is followed by the complementation
which can be divided into two types: complement and adjuncts.
3.1 Complement
There are three basic types of complements:

objects

predicative complements

complements that express other types of semantic relation such as location
Objects
An object is a noun phrase complement required by the verb and is affected by
the situation described by the verb. There are two types of objects: direct and indirect
objects. They are illustrated in this table.
SUBJECT PREDICATOR Oi
Od
Michael
bakes
Jude
a cake every birthday.
Francis
gave
Sandy
fifty cents.
the most exaggerated stories about his fishing
Clyde
tells
everyone
exploits.
Moreover, objects can sometimes be encoded either by noun phrases (like eggs) or by
subordinate clauses (like to play chess)
Predicative complements (PC)
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 9 of 26
Predicative complements are used to provide additional information about another
entity in the clause and they do not refer to a new entity. Verbs that require predicate
complements are be, feel, seem, appear. There are different kinds of predicative
complements:

adjective phrase complement: appear very friendly

noun phrase complement: is a friend

prepositional phrase complement: appear in good form

finite clause: feels she is better than ever

non-finite clause: seems to play piano well
Another type of complements is a preposition phrase or adverbial phrase that indicates
the direction of the movement.

prepositional phrase complement: sat on the chair

adverbial phrase complement: sat down
Furthermore, we have to pay attention to phrasal verbs which are also considered verb
phrases. Phrasal verbs refer to a number of verbs that include a preposition as a
particle.
Eg: turn the light on/ brighten the room up
3.2 Adjuncts
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 10 of
26
Adjuncts are adverbs or adverbial phrases and clauses that encode adverbial
meanings. There is quite a wide variety of semantic and syntactic types of structures
that can be used as adjuncts. The following two tables will illustrate these two types:
Semantic types of adjuncts in English:
Adjunct type Example
Manner
Debbie and Jude watched the movie reluctantly.
Place
Debbie and Jude watched the movie at the Nova.
Time
Debbie and Jude watched the movie yesterday.
Durations
Debbie and Jude watched the movie for ten minutes.
Frequency
Debbie and Jude watched the movie every week.
Purpose
Debbie and Jude watched the movie to find out what happened.
Condition
Debbie and Jude will watch the movie if they must.
Concession
Although they were reluctant, Debbie and Jude watched the movie.
Grammatical structures of adjuncts:
Grammatical
Example
structure
AdvP
Debbie and Jude watched the movie reluctantly
PP
Debbie and Jude watched the movie at the Nova
NP
Debbie and Jude watched the movie every week
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 11 of
26
Grammatical
Example
structure
Although they were reluctant, Debbie and Jude watched the
Finite clause
movie.
Debbie and Jude watched the movie to find out what
Non-finite clause
happened.
Verb phrase in Vietnamese
Verb phrase in Vietnamese includes three elements: pre-additive element + central
element + post-additive element.
1) Pre-additive element
We can divide pre-additive element into the following groups (Giáo trình ngữ pháp
Tiếng Việt tập II)
*Words with sense of continuing of activity or state: đều, cũng, vẫn, cứ, lại, mãi, tiếp
tục...
Eg: Họ vẫn ngồi im.
vẫn is pre-additive element of the verb phrase “vẫn ngồi”
*Words indicate the time of action or state: từng, đã, vừa, mới, đang, sẽ...
Eg: Em sẽ kể anh nghe
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 12 of
26
Chuyện con thuyền và biển
Sẽ is the pre-additive element of the verb phrase “sẽ kể”
*Words indicate the frequency: thường, hay, năng, ít, đôi khi, thỉnh thoảng...
Eg: Anh ta thỉnh thoảng ghé qua chỗ tôi.
Thỉnh thoảng is the pre-additive element of the verb phrase “thỉnh thoảng ghé”
*Words indicate the negation or affirmation: không, chưa, chẳng, chỉ...
Eg: Em ở đây, đời chẳng còn đáng ngại
Em ở đây, bàn tay tin cậy
Chẳng is the pre-additive element
*Words indicate the level: rất, hơi, khi, quá...
Eg: Rất đẹp hình anh lúc nắng chiều
Rất is the pre-additive element
*Words indicate the order: hãy, đừng, chớ...
Eg: Chớ nói cười, hãy lắng nghe xem đã
Chớ ,hãy is the pre-additive element of the verb phrase “Chớ nói cười, hãy lắng
nghe”
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 13 of
26
*Words indicate the limitation: chỉ
Eg: Cô ấy chỉ xinh thôi
2) The central element
The central element is divided into five groups (the information of “English verb
phrases versus Vietnamese verb phrases” website)
*Group 1: These verbs do not stand alone, they are usually followed by other verbs.
There are many different types:
- Modal verbs: phải, nên, cần, dám, có thể, sẽ, định...
Eg: Nó định nghỉ học
định is the central element
- Passive: bị, được, mắc, phải, chịu...
Eg: Anh ta bị thầy phạt
bị is the central element
- Verb phrase with two parallely existential actions: đứng khóc, nằm ngủ, đi học, đi chơi,
ngồi nghe...
Eg: Anh ta đi chơi phố
đi chơi is the central element
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 14 of
26
- Verb phrase with two actions but the second verb is an additive element in sense: ăn
đứng, ngã ngồi, đặt nằm, chết đứng...
Eg: Đặt nằm lên giá sách
đặt is the central element and nằm is the additive element
*Group 2: Verbs always go with additive elements
- Verbs with sense of moving: mở, dậy, kéo, đến, xuống, đi, bưng....
Eg: Anh ta đi ra
đi is the central element and ra is the additive element
- Verbs with sense of achieving results: hiểu ra, đọc xong, bay mất, nhặt lấy, thu được,
tìm thấy...
Eg: Nó để bay mất con gà
bay is the central element and mất is the additive element
- Verbs with sense of affecting two objects: cho, tặng, biếu, lấy, mượn, vay, cầm, xin,
gửi...
Eg: My tặng Thọ hai cuốn truyện
central element: tặng
object 1: Thọ
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 15 of
26
object 2: hai cuốn truyện
- Verbs with sense of governing two objects and objects’ activities are actions of order:
bảo, sai, bắt, cho phép, buộc, khiến...
Eg: Thầy giáo bảo Nam lên bảng
bảo is the central element
- Verbs with sense of governing an object and connecting with another object: trộn, pha,
nối, chắp, hòa...
Eg: Trộn bột với đường
trộn is the central element
bột and đường are objects
- Verbs with sense of governing additive element and having the structure A is B and
meanings of evaluating: coi, bầu, lấy, xem, cử...
Eg: Coi anh là bạn
Bầu ông Thao là chủ tịch
*Group 3: combination of verbs: chạy ra chạy vào, bàn qua bàn lại, đi ngược về xuôi,
trèo lên tụt xuống...
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 16 of
26
*Group 4: Verbs with sense of the state or a period of an action: bắt đầu học, tiếp tục đi,
thôi nói, hết chạy, ngừng học....
*Group 5: Verbs with sense of mood: lo lắng, bồn chồn, thoi thóp, thấp thỏm...
Eg: Người mẹ đang lo lắng về đứa con của mình
3) Post-additive element
Post-additive element of Vietnamese verb phrase is very complicated in terms of
word, formation and meaning (the information of “English verb phrase versus
Vietnamese verb phrase” website)
*Words: noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, adverb, number can stand after verb
Eg: Ăn cơm (cơm is a noun)
Đi học (học is a verb)
Đi nhanh (nhanh is an adjective)
Ghét nó (nó is a pronoun)
*Formation: a single word, a word phrase or a sentence can stand after a verb
Eg: nói chậm (chậm is a word)
nói cho vui nhà (cho vui nhà is a word phrase)
nói chúng ta có nhiều tiến bộ (chúng ta có nhiều tiến bộ is a sentence)
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 17 of
26
*Meanings: additive elements after verbs have many different meanings
- Words with sense of line of action: đi ra, trở lại, nhìn sang, bay qua, đi tới...
- Words with sense of state and process of action: đi ngay, nói liền, trả lời lập tức, ăn
nữa, nói hoài...
- Words with sense of order: về nào, nói đi, nghỉ thôi, chờ với, ngủ đã, tiến lên, hát lên...
- Words with sense of finishing or beginning an action: làm xong, ăn xong, có rồi, hiểu
rồi, nghe rồi...
- Words with sense of passive, beneficial or damaged results: gặp phải, bay mất, hao đi,
đá phải, nhận được, thu về...
- Words with sense of mutual interaction or itself: làm lấy, viết lấy, giải quyết lấy...
- Words with sense of including two elements connecting A and B: trộn bột với đường
- Words with sense of addition: nói vào, bàn vào...
- Words with sense of decreasing: cào ra, bớt đi...
- Words with sense of increasing: xông tới, tăng lên....
- Words with sense of repetition: nói lại, vặn lại, nhắc lại, xin lại...
Through what I have discussed, you can see all the characteristics of English
and Vietnamese verb phrases. Verb phrases in English include three elements:
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 18 of
26
auxiliary, main verb and complementation. Like English, verb phrases in Vietnamese
also have three elements: pre-additive element, central element and post-additive
element. Within this paper, I would like to discuss the contrast between English and
Vietnamese verb phrases in term of the parallel elements in the two formation of verb
phrases.
- Firstly, I will discuss the contrast between English and Vietnamese first element of
verb phrase. In English, the first element of verb phrase is the auxiliary and in
Vietnamese, it is pre-additive element. The auxiliaries mainly focus on grammar. On the
contrary, pre-additive elements mainly focus on meanings, just two groups of word
belong to grammar. Therefore, like English, Vietnamese pre-additive elements also
have the same meaning with auxiliary of tense in English:
He will go to school tomorrow.
Ngày mai anh ấy sẽ đi học.
However, because it is said that there is no tense in Vietnamese sentences, the
formation of first element of verb phrases of English and Vietnamese has differences
although their meanings are the same. For example, không, chẳng, chưa in
Vietnamese are similar to not in English
He didn’t do his homework yesterday.
She hasn’t finished her homework.
I am studying.
Ngày hôm qua anh ấy không làm bài tập.
Cô ấy chưa làm xong bài tập.
Tôi đang học
the differences of the form
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 19 of
26
Moreover, many linguistics agree that pre-additive elements of verb phrases in
Vietnamese are more various than these in English in term of meaning. They not only
have groups of word that have the meaning similar to auxiliary but also have other
groups of words with different meanings which English pre-additive elements do not
have.
Anh ấy vẫn hát.
He still sings
(vẫn is pre-additive element of verb phrase in Vietnamese, but still is not pre-additive
element of verb phrase in English)
Cô ấy thỉnh thoảng thăm tôi.
She sometimes visits me.
(thỉnh thoảng is pre-additive element of verb phrase in Vietnamese, but sometimes is
not pre-additive element of verb phrase in English)
- Second element of English and Vietnamese verb phrase that we continue discussing
is the central elements (main verbs). Like English, some Vietnamese main verbs also
take two objects (distransitive verbs) and some verbs have the structure of A is B
(complex transitive verbs)
Lan gives Nam two books
He considers her a genius
Lan cho Nam hai quyển sách
Anh ấy xem cô ấy là một thiên tài
However, the forms of two structures are different. In English, there is no word between
two objects, but in Vietnamese, we have the word “là” between the two objects.
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 20 of
26
In addition, there is a different between central element in English and Vietnamese. It is
the appearance of modal verb passive verb which are considered the pre-additive
element of verb phrase in English.
Tôi nên đi nghỉ.
I should go to bed.
(nên is the central element, but should is the pre-additive element)
Anh ta bị phạt
He is punished
(bị is the central element, but is is the pre-additive element)
Furthermore, Vietnamese verbs are more complicated and interesting than English
verbs. The interesting thing is the combination of verbs in Vietnamese, sometimes it is
the reduplication (lo lắng, bồn chồn, thoi thóp, thấp thỏm...). Vietnamese verbs are also
complicated because of their meanings (đặt nằm, chết đứng, ngã ngồi...). These verbs
do not appear in English. This complication may be the result of the variety of
Vietnamese language.
- The last element of verb phrase is the post-additive element. Both English and
Vietnamese verbs are followed by objects with different types of word (noun, pronoun,
adverb, adjective)
They eat fruits
Họ ăn trái cây
He hates her
Anh ấy ghét cô ấy
He walks very fast
Anh ấy đi một cách nhanh chóng
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 21 of
26
Cô ấy rất đẹp
She is very beautiful
However, there is a difference in the case of an adjective after a verb between English
and Vietnamese verb phrases. In English, adverb always go with verb (except some
verbs: to be, become, feel...), but in Vietnamese, this kind of adverb in English is
considered adjective. For instance, He walks very fast (fast is an adverb) - Anh ấy đi
nhanh (nhanh is an adjective)
Moreover, there is a special thing in Vietnamese verb. The verb is considered postadditive element of verb phrase. English does not have object as a verb.
Tôi đi học
I go to school
+ About the form, both English and Vietnamese verb phrases have post-additive
element as a single word, word phrase or a sentence.
We eat apples
Chúng ta ăn táo
She appears in a nice dress
Cô ấy xuất hiện với một bộ đầm đẹp
She says we have a lot of progress
Cô ấy nói chúng ta có nhiều tiến bộ.
+ About meaning, post-additive elements in Vietnamese are more complicated than
these in English. This variety of meaning comes from different kinds of expression in
Vietnamese and it is also considered the beauty of Vietnamese language (chờ với, ngủ
đã, hao đi, nói hoài...) which we can not see in English language.
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 22 of
26
Through a contrastive view of English and Vietnamese verb phrase, I would like
to discuss some implications for language teaching at high school in our country.
- Firstly, most of Vietnamese students have a tendency to translate word by word.
Therefore, they should be teach how to translate Vietnamese verb phrases into English
verb phrases. For example, some students may translate đi học (go to school) into go
study because they think that đi and học are two different verbs. Teachers should give
examples to clarify the structure of Vietnamese verb phrases as well as English verb
phrases.
- Secondly, teachers should use syntactic diagram tree to help students understand the
structure of English verb phrases easily. As a result, they can know what is the main
element or what is modifier, which is very useful for students to make sentences easily
when they write.
- Finally, teachers should remember that verb phrase is very difficult for students at high
school to understand easily, so it is necessary to give students more exercises to
practice. In addition, teachers can introduce verb phrase when teaching verbs in
vocabulary.
In conclusion, verb phrase is a part in the structure of a sentence. It is used in
both daily life and literature. A contrastive analysis between English and Vietnamese is
useful because it can help us understand the differences between verb phrase of two
languages. Furthermore, some implications for teaching are discussed so that teachers
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 23 of
26
can make the teaching easier. I hope that this paper provides useful knowledge as well
as some ideas for teaching English.
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
Page 24 of
26
REFERENCES CITED
Lê Cận, Phan Thiều, Diệp Quang Ban, Hoàng Văn Thung. (1983). Giáo trình ngữ pháp
Tiếng việt tập II (93-95). Ho Chi Minh City: Education Publishing House.
Lê Cận, Phan Thiều, Diệp Quang Ban, Hoàng Văn Thung. (1983). Giáo trình ngữ pháp
Tiếng việt tập II (80). Ho Chi Minh City: Education Publishing House.
English verb phrases versus Vietnamese verb phrases. Dec 20, 2009, from
http://docjax.cloudapp.net/document/view.shtml?id=796998&title=Some%20English%20
verb%20phrases%20versus%20Vietnamese%20verb%20phrases%20Any%20...
The
Verb
Phrase.
Dec
25,
2009,
from
http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/grammar/ph_verb.htm
Verb
phrases.
Dec
15,
2009,
from
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/linguistics/grammarpedia/verbphrase.htm
Trần Văn Điền. (1998). Văn Phạm Tiếng Anh Thực Hành. Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City.
Verb Phrase in English and Vietnamese
26
Page 25 of