a contrastive analysis of english and vietnamese verb phrases

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A
INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In our globalization, the need for developing the relationship between
Vietnam and other countries has resulted in a great demand for language
studying, especially English studying throughout the country. However,
English and Vietnamese are two different languages. English has different
characteristics from those of Vietnamese, for example the grammar, the
vocabulary, the pronunciation, the meaning, etc. Anyway, whenever talking
about characteristics of any language, we should mention the components
forming the sentence of that language. They may be word phrases such as
noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase and adverb phrase, etc. Therefore,
in order to have a deep look about the verb phrase of English as well as of
Vietnamese, I decide to make a research with the topic “A contrastive
analysis of English and Vietnamese verb phrases”. In this topic, I will
present some general characteristics of the verb phrase in English and
Vietnamese. The purpose of presenting them is to discuss the similarities
and differences between them in two aspects: form and meaning. Also, I
provide some implications for studying the verb phrase effectively in
Vietnam. I hope that this research will help you distinguish the similarities
as well as the differences between verb phrases of the two languages. Above
all, I do this research with the hope that it can help my readers clearer about
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all the similarities and differences of the verb phrase in English and
Vietnamese so that they can avoid making mistakes in their translation
between these two languages.
2. Scope of the assignment
Due to the duration of time and the length as well as the references available,
this assignment does focus on the forms and meanings of the verb phrase in

English and Vietnamese. The scope of contrastive analysis is based on the
following principles and aspects:
- Contrastive analysis of signs and appearances.
- Contrastive analysis of meanings of components.
- Contrastive analysis of forms.
3. Methods of the study
In studying process we have discussed and decided together some methods
such as collecting information and data from the Internet, books, websites
and finding document from the library. Apart from that, we have done
exercises and discussed in group. In addition, we also consult suggestions
from the teacher and ask for advice from the friends. To achieve the above
aims, we also used to analyze and contrast a lot of verb phrases in English
and Vietnamese.
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II PART B
DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1
LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Theoretical Background
1.1. What is the verb phrase?
There are many definitions of verb phrases in every aspect. Firstly, it is
necessary to understand what is verbs and phrase. According to
Fundamentals of English Traditional Syntax adapted by Tran Huu Manh
indicates “A verb is a word (or a part of speech) used to denote action or
state, or, otherwise help to complete the meaning of the verb phrase” (Tran,
2008, p.35). In addition, a phrase is a group of words that have a function in
a sentence; however, it does not have a subject and verb. If it had a subject
and a verb, it would be a clause. Phrases can function in the sentence like
nouns, adverbs, or adjectives. Moreover, as Wikipedia in 2009 defined that
in linguistics, a verb phrase is a syntactic structure composed of the

predicative elements of a sentence and its function is to provide information
about the subject of the sentence. In the generative grammar framework, the
verb phrase is a phrase headed by a verb. A verb phrase may be constructed
from a single verb; often, however, the verb phrase will consist of various
combinations of the main verb and any auxiliary verbs, plus optional
specifiers, complements, and adjuncts. Especially, a verb phrase concludes
three parts: the main verb, the pre-additive elements and the post-elements
that express an action or state of being.
1.2. The verb phrase in English
According to Kies (2009), an English verb phrase consists of a head verb, its
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auxiliaries, its complements, and other modifiers. In general, it has two
functional parts: the auxiliary verbs and the main verbs (lexical verbs).
1.2.1. The auxiliary verbs
The auxiliary verb is the grammatical morpheme carrying information about
mood, tense, modality, and voice.
The mood system in English is divided into four subcategories.
+ The indicative mood conveys to the listeners that the speaker is making
a statement, referring to the real world in an honest, direct, relevant way.
One way in which it’s easier for learner to realize the indicative mood is
thanks to the word order. When the auxiliaries take their "usual" position
following the “subject”, we consider a clause as being in the indicative
mood.
For example:
A: When will you stop by?
B: Sometime after dinner.
+ The interrogative mood signals the speakers' desire for information by
asking a question or interrogating the listeners. The interrogative is
marked by starting a clause or a sentence with an auxiliary verb (can,
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could, may, might, should, etc) or an interrogative pronoun (who, what,
etc). Another signal that can help us realize the interrogative is the
question mark at the end of the sentence.
Can Rachel recognize him?
Who will dance with Rachel?
+ The imperative mood expresses the speaker’s sense of a command, a
request, or an exhortation. If it is seen a base verb in a clause or a sentence in
the initial position, it will be an imperative:
Forget that!
Be polite with your teacher.
+ The subjunctive mood expresses the speakers’ sense of the unlikely things
such as a wish, a prayer or a hope. It describes hypothetical or unreal
situations. Speakers signal the subjunctive by using an auxiliary to begin
subordinate clauses or using subordinators that overtly mark hypothetical
conditions.
Had I seen you at the party, I’d have introduced you my boyfriend.
If I had a lot of money, I’d opened a café.
- Tense systems mark time. Tense is an inflection on the verb that indicates
the time reference of the expression.
In English, the first verb of a verb phrase is marked for tense, called “finite”
verb. Verbs that do not carry a tense inflection (such as participles) are
called “nonfinite” verbs. English has three tenses: past, present and future. In
most English verbs, the -ed inflection marks the past tense, the -s inflection
marks the present tense. Meanwhile, before the base verb, modal auxiliary
verbs (like will) or phrasal verbs (like is going to - often phonologically
reduced to gonna) are used in order to refer to the future tense. Actually,
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looking at the formation of the future tense, people commonly call the
“future” in English is really a part of the modality system of the language.
She went to school yesterday. ( Past tense)

She often goes to school by bus. ( Present tense)
She will go to school tomorrow. ( Future tense)
Verbs, using both the -s and -ed forms are known as “regular” verbs.
According to marking time, those verbs employ the most common and
productive inflection, such as look/ looked, like/ liked, try/ tried. “Irregular
verbs”, on the other hand, fall into seven subcategories. For examples, they
employ a number of inflections (such as -en for the participle inflection as in
broken, written, taken) or in some classes employ no participle inflections at
all (such as put as in “ Rachel put the book on the table yesterday”/ “Rachel
puts the book on the table”/ “Rachel has put the book on the table”).
- The modality system expresses the speakers’ sense of obligation, volition,
probability, permission, and ability. When you see a formation including
modal auxiliary and base verb, it is a modality.
Rachel (must/ should) go. ("Obligation")
Rachel will stop that immediately! ("Volition")
Rachel (may/ might) go. ("Probability")
Rachel (can/ may) go. ("Permission")
Rachel (can/ could) do it. ("Ability")
Rachel will do it tomorrow. ("Future"). (The modal will also express a
'future' sense.)
The modality system also includes a class of auxiliary verbs called semi-
auxiliaries (or semi-modals or quasi-modals). They often take the form of
BE + PARTICIPLE + TO. The semi-auxiliaries, starting with be, do not
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need do in order to support in negation or question formation, but most of
the others do.
- Aspect expresses either the completion or the continuation of the process
indicated by the verb in English.
- The perfect aspect which expresses the speakers' sense of completion, is
signaled by the use of a form of the auxiliary have and the -ed participle or

irregular participle (have + V-ed/3).
Rachel has just finished her homework.
Rachel had gone to bed before her parents went home.
- The progressive aspect, which expresses the speakers' sense of
continuation, is signaled by the use of a form of the auxiliary be and the -ing
participle (be + V-ing).
Rachel is listening to music at the moment.
- Voice systems allow speakers to view the action of the sentence in different
ways without changing the meaning.
English has two voices, active and passive. The passive voice is signaled by
the use of a form of be and the -ed participle (be + V-ed).
Rachel has read the book four 2 days. (Active voice)
The book has been read in four 2 days by Rachel. (Passive voice)
In the active sentence, we can see the event from the perspective of the doer
(Rachel), but in the passive sentence, we see the event from the perspective
of the goal (the book).
- English also employs the verb do to function as a supporting auxiliary in
verb phrases. In other words, we need do in negation and question
formation.
Rachel loves Joe.
Rachel doesn’t love Joe.
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Does Rachel love Joe?
1.2.2. The main verbs
The most important part in a verb phrase is the head word. We call them
main verbs or lexical verbs. The main verb is a lexical morpheme carrying
its lexical information and, usually, an inflection. In English, the main verb
includes five types:
- Intransitive verbs are the verbs used without direct object such as come, go,
move and so on; for example, “Rachel has just move”.

- Intensive verbs are the verbs used with complement or adverb such as to
be, become
Rachel becomes more attractive than ever.
- Monotransitive verbs are the verbs used with direct object such as buy,
sell
Rachel has just sold her house.
- Complex transitive verbs: the verbs are used with direct object and
complement or adverb such as paint, call, vote, appoint, elect
Rachel calls her dog Jack.
Rachel paints her room black.
- Distransitive verbs: the verbs are used with indirect object and direct object
such as give, offer, bring
Rachel gives Joe a piece of cake.
+ Distransive verb: gives
+ Direct object: Joe
+ Indirect object: a piece of cake
To sum up, in any English verb phrases, auxiliary is an optional component
but main verb is always an obligatory component.
1.3. The verb phrase in Vietnamese
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Verb phrases in Vietnamese include three elements: central element, pre-
additive element and post-additive element.
- The central element of Vietnamese verb phrases is divided into five groups.
Group 1: This kind of verb usually goes with other verbs, not standing
alone. It includes many different types:
● Modal verbs: phải, nên, cần, dám, có thể, sẽ, định
Anh ta cần mua một cái bàn.
Cần is the central element.
● Passive: bị, được, mắc, phải
Cô ấy được tuyên dương.

Được is the central element.
● Verb phrases with two parallelly existential actions: đứng khóc, nằm ngủ,
đi học, đi chơi, ngồi nghe
Anh ta nằm ngủ trên ghế sofa.
Nằm ngủ is the central element.
● Verb phrases with two actions described by two verbs but the second verb
is an additive element in sense: ăn đứng, ngã ngồi, đặt nằm, chết đứng
Vấp hòn đá, nó ngã ngồi.
Ngã is the central element and ngồi is the additive element.
Group 2: Verbs always go with additive elements.
● Verbs describing sense of moving: mở, dậy, kéo, đến, xuống, đi, bưng…
Chị tôi đi đến câu lạc bộ tiếng Anh.
Đi is the central element and đến is additive element.
● Verbs describing sense of achieving results: hiểu ra, đọc xong, bay mất,
nhặt lấy, thu được, tìm thấy
Tôi đã tìm thấy cái ví.
Tìm is the central element and thấy is the additive element.
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● Verbs describing sense of affecting two objects: cho, tặng, biếu, lấy,
mượn, vay, cầm, xin, gửi
Minh mượn Trí chiếc xe đạp.
+ Central element: mượn
+ Object 1: Trí
+ Object 2: chiếc xe đạp
● Verbs describing sense of governing two objects. The subject orders the
object: bảo, sai, bắt, cho phép, buộc, khiến.
Cô ấy bắt tôi nói ra sự thật.
Bắt is the central element.
● Verbs describing sense of governing an object and connecting with
another object: trộn, pha, nối, chắp, hòa

Pha cà phê với sữa.
+ Pha is the central element.
+ Cà phê and sữa are objects
● Verbs describing sense of governing additive elements. The structure
which is used is “A is B” with the meaning of evaluating: coi, bầu, lấy, xem,
cử…
Xem anh là đối tác.
Lấy anh làm gương.
Group 3: Combination verbs: chạy ra chạy vào, bàn qua bàn lại, đi ngược
về xuôi, trèo lên tụt xuống
Cô ấy chạy ra chạy vào phục vụ khách.
Group 4: Verbs describing sense of the state or a period of an action: bắt
đầu học, tiếp tục đi, thôi nói, hết chạy, ngừng học
Cô ấy ngừng học piano.
Group 5: Verbs describing sense of mood: lo lắng, bồn chồn, thoi thóp, thấp
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thỏm
Cô ấy bồn chồn đứng ngồi không yên.
- Pre -additive element includes following groups:
● Words indicating sense of continuation of activity or state: đều, cũng, vẫn,
cứ, lại, mãi, tiếp tục
Họ tiếp tục thảo luận về đề tài đó.
Tiếp tục is the pre-additive element of the verb phrase “tiếp tục thảo luận”.
● Words indicating the time of action or state: từng, đã, vừa, mới, đang, sẽ
Mẹ tôi đang nấu ăn.
Đang is the pre -additive element of the verb phrase “đang nấu ăn”.
● Words indicating the frequency: thường, hay, năng, ít, đôi khi, thỉnh
thoảng
Anh ta ít khi gọi cho tôi.
Ít khi is the pre-additive element of the verb phrase “ít khi gọi”.

● Words indicating the negation or affirmation: không, chưa, chẳng, chỉ
Tôi không muốn liên quan gì với anh ta.
Không is the pre-additive element.
● Words indicating the order: hãy, đừng, chớ
Chớ xem thường người khác.
Chớ is the pre-additive element of the verb phrase “chớ xem thường”
● Words indicating the level: rất, hơi, khí, quá
Anh ta quá nóng tính khi cư xử như vậy.
Quá is the pre -additive element.
- Post - additive element of verb phrases is very complicated in terms of
word, formation and meanings.
● Words: Noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, adverb, number can stand after
verb.
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Nấu cơm. Đi chơi
Cơm is a noun Chơi is a verb.
Ăn chậm. Nhớ anh ấy.
Chậm is an adjective. Anh ấy is a pronoun.
Té thường xuyên. Yêu một người.
Thường xuyên is an adverb. Một is a number.
● Formation: An additive element after a verb can be a single word, a word
phrase or a sentence.
Nhớ lâu. Ăn cho khỏi đói.
Lâu is a word. Cho khỏi đói is a word phrase.
Anh ấy khuyên chúng ta nên suy nghĩ kĩ trước khi quyết định.
Chúng ta nên suy nghĩ kĩ trước khi quyết định is a sentence.
● Meanings: An additive element after a verb has many different meanings.
+ words with sense of line of actions: đi ra, trở lại, nhìn sang, bay qua, đi
tới
Cô ấy đang đi về phía anh ta.

+ words with sense of state and process of actions: đi ngay, nói liền, trả lời
lập tức, ăn nữa, nói hoài
Cô ấy trả lời ngay lập tức câu hỏi của ban giám khảo.
+ words with sense of order: về nào, nói đi, nghỉ thôi, chờ với, ngủ đã, tiến
lên, hát lên…
Anh cứ nói đi.
+ words with sense of finishing or beginning an action: làm xong, ăn xong,
có rồi, hiểu rồi, nghe rồi
Cuối cùng thì tôi cũng làm xong bài tập.
+ words with sense of passive, beneficial or damaged results: gặp phải, bay
mất, hao đi, đá phải, nhận được, thu về
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Hôm nay tôi gặp phải rất nhiều chuyện xui.
+ words with sense of mutual interaction or itself: làm lấy, viết lấy, giải
quyết lấy
Anh hãy tự giải quyết lấy sai lầm của mình.
+ 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
2. Contrast between English and Vietnamese verb phrases
Through this paper, the author intends to contrast between English and
Vietnamese verb phrases in two aspects: form and meaning.
The first aspect to take into consideration when contrasting between English
and Vietnamese verb phrases is their forms. Learners can easily recognize
that both English and Vietnamese verb phrases have three parts: the central
element, the pre-additive element, and the post-additive element. Among
them, the central element must be a verb and it is obligatory while two parts

of additive elements can be optional to go with the head verb. However,
English has the notion of tense such as present tense, past tense and future
tense but Vietnamese do not. In addition, English verb phrases change their
form to mark different tenses.
For example:
I am sitting beside Mary. (The present continuous tense)
I can sit beside Mary in my evening class. (The simple present tense)
I sat beside Mary in my evening class last week. (The simple past
tense)
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I will sit beside Mary in my evening class tomorrow. (The simple
future tense)
In contrast, Vietnamese verb phrases always keep the same form in every
situation; instead Vietnamese uses subordinate words such as “đã, vừa, mới,
đang, sẽ” to denote the time.
For example:
Tôi đang làm bài tập. (I’m doing my homework.)
Tối nay tôi sẽ làm bài tập. (This evening, I will do my homework.)
Tôi đã làm bài tập xong. (I have already done my homework.)
Similarly, form of the English verb phrase changes in interrogative and
negative sentences while Vietnamese also keeps the same form and adds
subordinate words, for example:
I didn’t see them Tôi không nhìn thấy họ.
Can you speak French?  Bạn nói được tiếng pháp không?
When the verb phrase functions as a subject of the sentence, its form must
change to “V-ing” in English but keep the same in Vietnamese. For
example, in English we say “ Reading is one of my hobbies” but in
Vietnamese it is “ Đọc sách là một trong những thói quen của tôi”.
Moreover, some English verbs must be followed by a preposition, whereas
Vietnamese do not need, for example: listen to, believe in, approve of,

respond to, compare to, introduce to…
In addition, there are similarities and differences in form of each part
between two languages. In both languages, the central part must contain
head verbs, some of which must be followed by objects and some of which
may not. However, in English verb phrases, it contains only one head verb
but not a series of verbs like in Vietnamese. In other words, unlike English,
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Vietnamese have form of one verb goes directly after another verb as a
range, for example:
(+) Chủ nhật tuần sau tụi nó đi coi phim. They will go to the movie next
Sunday.
(+) Tôi làm mất chìa khòa.  I have lost my key.
(+) Nó đi ngủ .  He goes to sleep .
The pre-element of the verb phrase can’t be an adjective in English but it can
be in Vietnamese, for example: nhanh khỏi, lâu mòn, khẽ kêu, nhẹ nhàng
khuyên bảo. Another aspect to consider about English-Vietnamese verb
phrases is the similarities and differences in their meaning. In general, the
verb phrase provides information about the subject of the sentence. The pre-
additive element usually functions the grammar while the post-additive
element functions the meaning. However, sometimes the same English verb
can go with different prepositions to show different meanings, such as make
up, make from, make of, make for, and make off. All of them have different
meanings. Moreover, the meaning of English auxiliaries is much more
diversified. Although some auxiliaries such as “must, might, need, ought to,
should” have the same meaning of obligation to do something, their usage
depends on the level of obligation, for example, the meaning of “must”
shows the strongest obligation among them. In contrast, Vietnamese doesn’t
have this term but they use subordinate words such as “nên, phải, cần…”
to express those meanings. Besides, according to Du (2005), some verbs
have different meanings like the verb “có” in Vietnamese have both

meanings of possession “have ” and existence “is/ are” in English.
3. Some implications for studying the verb phrase
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Through this research paper, the author describes the main characteristics of
Vietnamese and English verb phrases and discusses some implications for
studying the verb phrase in our country.
Firstly, most students tend to transfer their mother tongue into the target
language. Within this paper, we can see that although the components which
form both Vietnamese and English verb phrases are almost the same, the
structure is a little bit different. Therefore, this can lead to misunderstanding
due to differences in many aspects between the two languages. As a result,
the students should ask the teacher to be explained these differences. For
example, in English question sentences, auxiliary verbs or interrogative
pronouns are used before subject; meanwhile, in Vietnamese, they are often
at the end of the sentence such as “phải không, đúng không, chưa, hả…”
and so on. Secondly, the awareness of Vietnamese and English verb phrases
also helps students develop linguistic skills in both languages. Contrastive
knowledge in students’ mother tongue and the target language somehow also
gives them a clear distinction in order to help them avoid mistakes as much
as possible as well as use and transfer languages more confidently and
effectively. Thirdly, one of the most important things in studying the verb
phrase is to distinguish between transitive and intransitive verbs going
together with their suitable sub-elements; especially some English verbs can
be both transitive and intransitive (Esldesk, 2009); for example, “study” is a
transitive verb in “ John studies Vietnamese” , but intransitive verb in “ John
studies hard”. Last but not least, teachers should also clarify the meanings of
different verb phrases that go with different prepositions.
In general, there are two types of them: prepositional verbs and phrasal verbs
(Ha, 1999). Both of their forms consist of a head verb and a preposition, but
their meanings are completely different. Prepositional verb just have normal

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meaning of a verb with its preposition, for example: laugh at, listen to, wait
for and so on. In contrast, every phrasal verb has specific meaning, for
example: “put off” means “ postpone”, “turn down” means “ refuse”, “pass
away” means “die” and many examples like that.
PART III: CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the verb phrase is a very important component to form
sentences. Language is the most effective method of communication of
human beings. However, to understand the structure, the formation, the
origin, especially the characteristics of language is not simple at all.
Actually, English and Vietnamese are different languages. For this reason, it
is obvious that each of them has its own characteristics. That’s reason why
making a comparison between the two languages is very difficult. In this
research paper, the author offered some general knowledge about the verb
phrase in English and Vietnamese as well as the contrast between them in
their forms and meanings. Moreover, the author also suggested some
implications for studying languages in Vietnam. In general, every language
has its own interesting characteristic. The important thing is that we need to
know how to use them and distinguish the differences as well as the
similarities between these languages. To sum up, the author hopes that this
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study will offer some explorations about English-Vietnamese verb phrases
as well as provide some useful ideas for language students.
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Pham, Thi Ha. (2009). Some English Verb Phrases versus Vietnamese Verb
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