Lesson 8

Lesson 8: Taxi
• Aims of lesson:
After the lesson, you will learn:
• How to take the taxi
• Make question with “bao lâu”
• The conjunction “nên”
• Content
• Hội thoại (Dialogue)
On the afternoon Mary is going to British Embassy, now she is calling to Hanoi taxi
agency to reserve a taxi.
Agency: Dạ! Hà Nội taxi xin nghe!
Mary: Alô! chào anh ạ! anh có thể gọi cho em một xe taxi bốn chỗ tới địa chỉ số 27 đường
Xuân Thủy, Cầu Giấy được không ạ?
Agency: Dạ vâng ạ! chị vui lòng chờ một lát, taxi sẽ đến ngay ạ
Mary: Cảm ơn anh nhiều, chào anh!
Agency: Dạ không có gì ạ, chào chị!
Some minutes later, Mary sees a four-seat taxi is coming; she waves her hand as a sign.
Taxi driver: Xin lỗi, có phải chị gọi taxi không ạ?
Mary: Vâng! đúng rồi ạ, anh có phải từ bên Hà Nội taxi không ạ?
Taxi driver: Vâng! Thưa chị, mời chị lên xe ạ.
Mary: Cảm ơn anh!
Taxi driver: Bây giờ chị muốn đi đến địa điểm nào ạ?
Mary: Anh đưa tôi đến Đại sứ quán Anh ở số 31 Hai Bà Trưng.
Taxi driver: Vâng! Phiền chị thắt dây an toàn để chúng ta có thể khởi hành ạ.
Mary: Vâng! tôi đã sẵn sàng, anh có thể cho tôi hỏi một chút được không ạ?
Taxi driver: Vâng chị cứ nói ạ.
Mary: Từ đây đến Đại sứ quán mất bao lâu ạ?
Taxi driver: Bây giờ đường không đông lắm nên khoảng 30 phút nữa chúng ta sẽ đến Đại
sứ Quán.
Mary: Vâng! vậy là tôi yên tâm rồi. Cảm ơn anh!
Taxi driver: Dạ! không có gì ạ.

Thirty minutes later, Mary gets to British Embassy; she gets off the taxi and makes the
payment.
Taxi driver: Thưa chị! Đại sứ quán đây rồi ạ
Mary: Vâng! cảm ơn anh nhé, xin hỏi hết bao nhiêu tiền ạ?
Taxi driver: Dạ! hết 90.000 đồng chẵn ạ.
Mary: Đây thưa anh, cảm ơn anh nhiều ạ.
Taxi driver: Dạ! không có gì ạ, chị có muốn tôi đợi không ạ?
Mary: Không cần đâu, chào anh!
Taxi driver: Cảm ơn chị! Chào chị!
(See the translation)
Dialogue 1:
Agency: Hello! Thank you for calling to Hanoi taxi, can I help you?
Mary: Hello! Could you arrange one four-seat taxi to pick me up at No.27 Xuan Thuy
Street, Cau Giay Dist.?
Agency: Yes, Madam. Could you please wait for some minutes, our taxi will come now.
Mary: Thank you very much and goodbye!
Agency: You’re welcome, goodbye!
Dialogue 2:
Taxi driver: Excuse me! Did you call for a taxi?
Mary: yes, I did. You are from Hanoi taxi, aren’t you?
Taxi driver: Yes, I am. Please get in the car.
Mary: Thanks you!
Taxi driver: Where would you go to now?
Mary: Please take me to British Embassy at No.31 Hai Ba Trung Street.
Taxi driver: yes, could you please wear seatbelt and we can departure.
Mary: Yes, I am ready, may I have a question?
Taxi driver: yes, please!
Mary: How long does it take from here to British Embassy?
Taxi driver: At the moment, the street is not so crowded, so it may take about 30 minutes.
Mary: Yes, It’s good, thank you!

Taxi driver: Not at all!
Dialogue 3:
Taxi driver: Here is British Embassy.
Mary: Yes, thank you! How much is it?
Taxi driver: It is 90.000 VND.
Mary: Here you are!
Taxi driver: Thank you! Do you need me to wait for you?
Mary: No, thanks! Goodbye!
Taxi driver: Thank you and goodbye!
(make a list of Taxi agency in Hanoi and its phone number) see as reference of the lesson)











Vietnamese Sound English equivalent
Chỗ (chỗ ngồi) seat
vui lòng please
chờ to wait
một lát a little (in this lesson: some minutes)
gọi to call
lên xe to get in
địa điểm place
đưa/ đưa đón to take, to pick up

thắt to tie
dây an toàn seatbelt
có thể can, could, might, may
sẵn sàng ready
đông crowed
nên so
bao nhiêu tiền how much

Từ mới (New word)
*Note:
- The word “vui lòng” is used when offering someone to do something politely.
Example:
Bạn vui lòng mở cửa giúp mình được không?
-> Could you open the door please?
- In the dialogue you see so many word “ạ”, but we can not translate it into English because
there is no equivalent meaning in English. It is used to show the politeness and respect of
the speaker to the person being spoken. For example, before going to class children have to
say goodbye to their parents “Thưa bố mẹ! Con đi học ạ” as well as when they come back
home they have to say hello to their parents “thưa bố mẹ con đã về ạ”. It does not only
convey the meaning of informing but also expressing the respect to the olders.
• Ngữ pháp (Grammar)
3.1. Bao lâu: How long….
When asking for how long something done, Vietnamese use the question which is formed
by the word “ bao lâu”.
Form 1
CN + ĐT + VN + (mất) bao lâu?
S + V + O + how long?
Let analyse the example for futher detail:
- (S) Đi từ đây đến Đại sứ quán mất bao lâu?
- S (Verb) (Object) how long?

The subject is not appeared here but we still can understand that there is someone moves to
Embassy; therefore this sentence can be translated into English as below:
-> How long does it take from here to Embassy?
See more examples:
- Bạn đi từ nhà đến trường mất bao lâu?
-> How long does it take you from your house to your school?
- Đi từ Hà Nội vào Huế mất bao lâu?
- > How long does it take from Hanoi to Hue?
* Note:
- The word “mất” can be replaced by “trong” or “khoảng”. “Mất” refers to the exact time,
“trong” refers to the approximate time but not over the time given, and “khoảng” also
refers to the approximate time and it can be less or more than the time given. Therefore,
Vietnamese applied this meaning of these words to give clear answer. See the answer for
these above questions:
Question 1
Q: Đi từ đây đến Đại sứ quán mất bao lâu?
A: Đi từ đây đến Đại sứ quán mất 30 phút. (Exactly it takes 30 minutes)
Question 2:
Q: Bạn đi từ nhà đến trường mất bao lâu?
A: Mình đi từ nhà đến trường trong 15 phút. (It takes less than 15 minutes)
Question 3:
Q: Đi từ Hà Nội vào Huế mất bao lâu?
A: Đi từ Hà Nội vào Huế khoảng 4 tiếng. (It may take less than or more than 4 hour)
- In the question, the word “bao lâu” can be replaced by the word “ bao nhiêu thời gian”.
The question and answer form as well as the meaning is the same with the word “bao lâu”.
Vietnamese prefers using “bao lâu” to using “bao nhiêu thời gian”.
3.2. Conjunction: “nên” means “so”
The conjunction “nên” is used to combine two clauses that have “cause and effect”
relationship. The first clause often shows the meaning of cause and the second one has the
meaning of effect.

To make you easy to remember we provide the form as below:
Cause clause + nên + effect clause
See the example for detail:
- Bây giờ đường không đông lắm// nên // khoảng 30 phút nữa chúng ta sẽ đến Đại sứ quán.
(Cause clause) nên (Effect clause)
->Now the street is not so crowed so we can get to Embassy about 30 minutes later.
In order to emphasize the reason we add the word “vì”at the very beginning of the cause
clause.
Example:
- Vì // trời mưa // nên // chúng tôi không đi chơi.
vì (cause) nên (effect)
-> Because it rains so we do not go out.
- Vì // Lan bị ốm // nên // cô ấy không đến lớp.
-> Because Lan is ill so she does not come to class.
Similiar with English, the position of these two clauses can be exchanged, and in this case
the word “nên” can be omittied, and replaced by “vì”.
See example:
- Chúng tôi không đi chơi // vì // trời mưa.
(Effect) vì (cause)
-> We do not go out because it rains.
- Lan không đến lớp // vì // cô ấy bị ốm
-> Lan does not come to class because she is ill.
* Note:
- If the subject in two clauses is the same, it can be omitted in one of these two clauses.
Example:
- (Vì) bị ốm nên Lan không đến lớp