Adverbs of time in english and vietnamese

Functions of Vietnamese Adverbs of Time...21 Chapter 3: Contrastive Analysis between English Adverbs of Time and Vietnamese Ones...22 3.1.. Moreover, learners find it difficult to arrang

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Mrs NguyÔn V©n Lam, my supervisor, for her comments, encouragement, guidance, corrections, and useful materials during the course of my writing, without which this study would hardly have been accomplished And I would like to thank Mr Ng« §×nh Ph¬ng, my examiner who has helped me accomplish this study

I am gratefully in debt to all the teachers of Foreign Languages Departmentwho have taught me the last four years

Thanks are also extended to all of my friends who have encouraged me andhelped me to collect documents as well as experience My thanks also go to the11th form students for their supply of information in the questionnaire

Last but not least, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my parents fortheir support and encouragement in the process of study

AbStract

“English is the most widespread language on earth and is the second only toMandarin Chinese in the number of the people who speak it” ( Musman, 1987).Learning English is very useful In order to learn it well adverbs and theirroles in language should be paid attention to Although adverb is considered as

an optional element in the sentence, it plays a very important part in theformation of the language and its presence contribute well to the meanings ofthe sentence

English adverbs are very various and Vietnamese ones are, too However, inthis study we only focus on adverbs of time, then finding out major similaritiesand differences between English and Vietnamese adverbs of time In addition,

we provide learners some useful knowledge and analysis of common mistakesabout English adverbs and adverbs of time basing on the survey questionnaire

We also give out some suggestions for teachers and students in teaching andlearning English adverbs and adverbs of time in particular and activities forpractice

Table of contents

PageAcknowledgements

Abstract

Table of contents

Part A: introduction 1

I Rationale 1

II The Aims of the Study 2

III The Objectives of the Study 2

IV The Scope of the Study 2

V The Methods of the Study 2

VI The Design of the Study 2

Part B: contents 4

Chapter 1: English Adverbs and Adverbs of Time 4

1.1 English Adverbs 4

1.2 English Adverbs of Time 5

1.2.1 Definition 5

1.2.2 Forms of English Adverbs of Time 5

1.2.2.1 One- word Adverbs 5

1.2.2.2 Adverb Phrases 6

1.2.2.3 Adverb Clauses 6

1.2.3 Classifications of English Adverbs of Time 7

1.2.3.1 Time When Adverbs 8

1.2.3.2 Time Duration Adverbs 9

1.2.3.3 Time Frequency Adverbs 11

1.2.3.4 Other Time Relationships Adverbs 11

1.2.4 Positions of English Adverbs of Time 12

1.2.5 Functions of English Adverbs of Time 12

Chapter 2: Vietnamese Adverbs and Adverbs of Time 14

2.1 Vietnamese Adverbs 14

2.2 Vietnamese Adverbs of Time 16

2.2.1 Definition 16

2.2.2 Forms of Vietnamese Adverbs of Time 17

2.2.2.1 Simple Adverbs 17

2.2.2.2 Compound Adverbs 17

2.2.2.3 Adverb Clauses 17

2.2.3 Classification of Vietnamese Adverbs of Time 18

2.2.3.1 Time When Adverbs 18

2.2.3.2 Time Duration Adverbs 18

2.2.3.3 Time Frequency Adverbs 19

2.2.3.4 Other Time Relationships Adverbs 19

2.2.4 Positions of Vietnamese Adverbs of Time 20

2.2.5 Functions of Vietnamese Adverbs of Time 21

Chapter 3: Contrastive Analysis between English Adverbs of Time and Vietnamese Ones 22

3.1 Major Similarities 22

3.2 Major Differences 24

Chapter 4: Applications for Learning and Teaching English 27

4.1 Comments on The Survey Questionnaires 27

4.2 Collection and Analysis of Data 27

4.2.1 Collection of Data 27

4.2.2 Analysis of Data 28

4.3 Suggestions and Activities for Practice 29

4.3.1 Suggestions 29

4.3.2 Activities for Practice 32

Part C: concluSion 35

Appendix

References

Part A Introduction

I Rationale

Nowadays, English is one of the most popular languages in the world and helpspeople communicate well in many fields In Vietnam, English also occupies aspecially important status in the development of international relationship Thus,English programs are offered everyday through all means of mass media Besides,English has been influenced in our education curriculum as a compulsory subject

In learning English well, adverbs, like other parts of speech play a veryimportant role in making the meaning of the sentence The functions of adverbs arevery complicated in English They take part in the structure and help expressmeaning fully and equally to other parts of the sentence structure In addition,adverbs can modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb They are, thus, soimportant in speech

It is necessary to understand the importance of adverbs and how to use themeffectively and suitably However, Vietnamese learners’ mother tongue ofteninterfere when they learn English Learners sometimes confuse between someadverbs that have two forms but different meanings, e.g: ‘hard’/ ‘hardly’; ‘late’/

‘lately’

Moreover, learners find it difficult to arrange some kinds of time adverbs in theright order if they co-occur in a sentence such as: time when adverbs, timefrequency adverbs, time duration adverbs ,etc

Examples: - Jenifer met Prad Pitt since last Music Grammy once (wrong)

-Jenifer met Prad Pitt once since last Music Grammy (right)

English and Vietnamese are two different languages Thus, the adverbs in thetwo languages are different to some extent However, it is very difficult to coverall aspects of adverbs in this thesis The author only focuses on adverbs of time incontrastive analysis between English and Vietnamese It is the author’s hope togive some useful information and knowledge to help learners use adverbs andadverbs of time suitably and effectively.

II The aims of the study

- To present the theoretical study of English and Vietnamese adverbs of time.-To find out major similarities and differences between English adverbs of timeand Vietnamese ones

- To show some common mistakes based on the survey questionnaire

- To provide English learners with some suggestions for using English adverbs oftime and activities for practice

III The objectives of the study

To fully achieve the aims above, the study should answer the question:

- What are the similarities and differences of time adverbs in English andVietmamese?

IV The scope of the study

It is due to the size of the B.A thesis, the author focuses on major similarities anddifferences between English adverbs of time and Vietnamese ones

V The methods of the study

- Collecting information and knowledge from useful materials by famous writers

- Analysing the data collected to draw out major similarities and differencesbetween English and Vietnamese adverbs

VI The design of the study

The study is divided into three main parts:

The first part is the “Introduction”, which gives the reason for choosing thesubject and sets up the aims, objectives, scope and methods of the study

The second part consists of four chapters:

Chapter 1 provides a brief background of English adverbs and analyzes Englishadverbs of time in detail

Chapter 2 provides a brief background of Vietnamese adverbs and analyzesVietnamese adverbs of time in detail

Chapter 3 presents some major similarities and differences between Englishand Vietnamese adverbs of time.

Chapter 4 is about common mistakes of students based on the collection andanalysis of data, and suggestions for teaching and learning English adverbs andadverbs of time

The third part, “Conclusion”, presents a review of the study and the study endswith the “Appendix” and “References”

Part B Contents

Chapter 1 English adverBs and adverbs of time1.1 English adverbs

Adverb is a very important component in the sentence Although adverbssometimes can be optional, they contribute the meaning to the sentence They are

in the sentence not only as the main part like verbs, nouns, or adjectives but also asthe modifier to them According to Phóc (1999:33), “Adverb is a word that addsmore information about time, place , circumstance, degree, manner, cause, etc to averb, an adjective, a phrase or another adverb”

In Alexander (1992:122), “The adverb (ad-verb) suggests the idea of adding tothe meaning of a verb This is what many adverbs do They can tell us somethingabout the action in a sentence by modifying a verb, i.e by telling us how, when,where something happens or is done”.

However, apart from modifying a verb, an adverb can also modify adjectives orother adverbs, e.g:

This book is extremely interesting.

She studies very well

We can find another definition of adverb like this : “An adverb tells us in whatway someone does something or in what way something happens”, (Murphy,1999:313)

Among these definitions, we agree with a definition presented by Oxforddictionary : “Adverb is a word expressing manner or degree or circumstance andused to modify adjective or verb or other adverb”

Adverb can consist of one word or more than one word with regard to one-wordadverbs Most of them are formed by adding the suffix –ly to the corresponding

adjective, usually to adverbs of manner such as: happily , nicely , beautifully‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’,

carelessly

‘ ’, etc Some words without –ly can be both adjectives and adverbs such

as: fast , hard , long , straight‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’, etc And compound adverbs are those which

contain two or more words such as : ‘meantime , somewhere , hereby , herein ,’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’

clockwise , however , now and then , once upon a time ,

Obviously, the role of English adverbs in a sentence cannot be denied Because

of the limitation of the topic, the author cannot provide readers with all knowledgeand information on English adverbs, but only focusing on English adverbs of time

1.2 English adverbs of time

1.2.1 Definition

Adverbs of time help us to clarify the time when the action is done Generally,they define when the action or an utterance is performed They aim to respond toquestions with when, how long and since when, e.g:

- I last saw Tom two years ago.

(When did you last see Tom?)

- Mary has been living in Paris for a week.

(How long has Mary been living in Paris?)

1.2.2 Forms of English Adverbs of Time

1.2.2.1 One- word Adverbs

Adverbs of time are mostly one word such as : once , twice , tomorrow‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’,

yesterday , lately , since , then

‘ ’ ‘ ’ ’ ‘ ’, etc They are mainly formed by adding –ly

such as: ‘recently , lately , occasionally , frequently , presently , generally’ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’,etc Besides, time adverbs denoting the date, month, or year are formed by the

addition of –ly after nouns like: daily‘ ’ (from ‘day’), month‘ ’ (from ‘month’),

yearly

‘ ’ (from ‘year’), weekly‘ ’ (from ‘week’), nightly‘ ’ (from ‘ night’), etc

1.2.2.2 Adverb Phrases

Adverb phrases tell how, when, and where an action is done and adverb phrases

of time are normally made up of adjectives such as: ‘last’, ‘every’ or a prepositionssuch as: ‘since’, ‘during’, ‘until’, or demonstrative adjectives like ‘this’, ‘that’,

‘these’, ‘those’ and a noun exemplified by: last night , everyday , since‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘

Monday , during his childhood , ’ ‘ ’ etc

Example: - During the most of the 19 th century, Britain was the world’s

greatest industrial power

(8, 40) Furthermore, adverb phrases of time are formed by the combination of a

preposition and a noun , e.g: at 8 p.m, in 2004, on Monday, at the moment, on

Christmas Day, at Easter, etc Or of two adverbs like: ever since, etc Adverb

phrases of time include ‘once upon a time , now and then , from time to time’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’,etc

Examples: -At one o clock’ Wallis arrived with her husband

- In 1803 Mathew Flander sailed right round Australia.

(8, 82)

1.2.2.3 Adverb Clauses

Adverb clauses of time are usually introduced by subordinators as before ,‘ ’

since

‘ ’, while , after , as soon as , until / till , when , whenever‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’, as in

Examples: - While the guests were dancing, thieves broke into the house.

- He did not know anything until she told the truth.

- I will tell you all the news when I got back home.

- When I look through your books, I noticed that you have a

copy of “Murder in the Cathedral”

- Whenever the drummer began practicing, the people in the

next flat banged on the wall

-When Charles Dickens was only eleven, his father went to prison

for his debts and the family went, too

(12, 127)

- As soon as the day s work is over’ , the whole Odell family go off to thebeach to ‘sunbake’ and swim and go surfing

(8, 96)

In addition, non-finite and verbless clauses can be introduced by these adverbs

Examples: - Before singing, she made up carefully.

- After leaving New Zealand, Cook sailed north west

(8, 19)

- When ripe, these apples will be delicious.

(11, 313)

1.2.3 Classifications of English Adverbs of Time

According to Quirk (1973), adverbs of time can be divided into four mainsemantic subclasses

1.2.3.1 Time When Adverbs

From some preceding point of time Definite

Indefinite

Most of time when adverbs can serve as a response to a when question Theyusually occur in the past tense, past perfect or future tenses, as in:

A: When did you get married?

B: Last year.

Time when adverbs can be subdivided into:

*Adverbs denoting a point of time such as : today , just‘ ’ ‘ ’ (at this very moment),

tonight , again

‘ ’ ‘ ’ (on another occasion), late , no‘ ’ ‘ w’ (at this time), nowadays‘ ’ (at

present time), ‘then’ ( at that time), last night , presently‘ ’ ‘ ’ (at present time), as in

- He was awarded his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1999.

- I was in New York last year and am now living in Baltimore.

(11, 231)

*Adverbs denoting a boundary of time such as: afterwards , before ,‘ ’ ‘ ’

eventually

‘ ’ (in the end), ‘formally , just’ ‘ ’ (a very short time ago), lately‘ ’ ( a short

time ago), ‘since , ’ soon , then‘ ’ ‘ ’ (after that), ‘previously’ (before), ‘presently’ (soon), ‘momentarily’ (in a moment).

Examples:- She left him after struck her.

- Will you be there after lunch?

Time when adverbs can be in hierarchical relationship as there is a series of time

when adverbs They often come from the particular to the general, e.g: time +“

day + date + year ” However, the order may be reversed if the time is considered

longer

Examples:- I will meet him at eight on Monday.

- I was in New York last year before the first snow fell.

(11, 232)

Also, the common time when adverb is just‘ ’ used to mean ‘during a very shortperiod’ in perfect tense ; ‘a very short time ago’ in the past and other meanings

Examples:- He has just finished the course.

- Mary just met him once.

- I just give him 100.000 VN§.

1.2.3.2 Time Duration Adverbs

Time duration adverbs denote to the length of time and the duration from somepreceding point of time which can serve as a response to a ‘(for) how long’? ‘Sincewhen’ ? questions.

Examples:- A: How long are you staying (for) ?

- B: (for) about a year

- A: How long have you been collecting scientific books?

- B: Since I was at secondary school.

* Common adverbs in the group denoting length of time include: always , long‘ ’ ‘ ’,

momentarily

‘ ’ (for a moment), permanently , temporarily , ago , any longer‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’,etc

* Common adverbs in the group denoting duration from some preceding point of

time include: lately / recently‘ ’ ‘ ’ (during a recent period), since‘ ’ (from sometime in

the past), and prepositional phrases are introduced by for , from , during‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’, etc

Examples:- He insulted me last year and I haven’t spoken to him since.

- We haven’t met each other lately.

- Most people work from nine to five.

The common duration adverbs are introduced by since , for , during , from ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘

to/till/until’

- ‘Since’ means ‘from that time to the time referred to’ It is often used with a

present perfect or past perfect tense and can be a conjunction of time

Examples:- He has worked for us ever since left school.

- It is two years since I last saw Tom.

‘Since’ can also be an adverb, eg:

- He left school in 1998 I haven’t seen him since.

- ‘For’ plus a period of time can be used with a present perfect tense or past perfect

tense

- He has worked here for a month.

‘for’ may be used before known periods, as in.

- I rented my house for my holidays.

Sometimes, for‘ ’ is often omitted in phrases of duration as in:

-We stayed there (for) three month.

-The snowy weather lasted (for) the whole time we were there.

- (For) a lot of the time we just lay on the beach.

(11, 157)

- ‘During’ is used with known period of time such as periods known by name or

periods which have been already defined

Examples: - We haven’t met Tom during Christmas.

- He found for Greek freedom during the Second World war.

- ‘From to/till/until’ is pair of prepositions whose locative meaning is transferred

to duration denoting a definite period

Example: - The 22nd Sea Games lasted from 7 th to 14 th of November

- We camped there from June to (till) September.

(=up to[ ? and including] September)

(11, 155)

1.2.3.3 Time Frequency Adverbs

Most time frequency adverbs can serve as a response to a ‘ How often’ question Example:- A: How often do you visit your grandfather ?

B: Every summer.

Time frequency adverbs can be subdivided into:

* Definite frequency means the time are explicitly named which are introduced by

once , twice , every

‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’, etc or ‘a week , a year , daily , yearly , everyweek’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’, etc

Examples: - The World Cup is organized every four years.

- We come back our hometown once a month

* Indefinite frequency includes: always , often , now and then , continuously ,‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’

at time , usually , occasionally , frequently , seldom , never , sometimes ,

from time to time , at times

Examples: - Sailors drink Rum often.

- Universities sometimes have linguistics departments.

- I often find spelling mistakes in my students’ essay.

(11, 237)

1.2.3.4 Other Time Relationships Adverbs

The other time relationships adverbs include: ‘first , eventually , finally , later ,’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’

then subsequently , orginally , soon , still

time when adverbs

Examples: - These techniques were orginally used in the Second World war.

- He finally accepts her advice.

- She broke her legs for the first time when she was ten.

- They still live in a small flat.

- Have you finished your homework, yet?

- They have already come back home.

1.2.4 Positions of English Adverbs of Time

According to Quirk (1973), adverbs of time are usually in the initial, medialand final positions

- Time when adverbs often occur in the initial and final positions However, just‘ ’

and now‘ ’ can also occur in the medial

Example: - Jim have just finished playing football.

- Time duration adverbs usually occur in the final position apart from these

adverbs: temporarily , permanently , momently , briefly‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ that often take themedial position

Example :- I briefly introduced myself.

- Time frequency adverbs mostly occur in the medial position and final positions

Examples: - They often deliver bread for the poor.

- We all receive a Hoa Hoc Tro weekly.

- Other time relationships adverbs mostly occur in the medial position

Examples: - He has already gone out.

- She still loves him whatever happens

-There are still parts of the world today where coins and notes are

of no use

(7, 17)

1.2.5 Functions of English Adverbs of Time

According to Quirk (1973) adverbs of time have two main characteristics whichcan be seen as their functions, that is, as adverbial and modifier

As adverbial, adverbs of time is one of five sentence elements: Subject, Verb,

Object, Complement, Adverbial, e.g:

- When the family lived in the city, Mr Green used to take his children to

the circus

(10, 11)

- I have earned my own living since I left school.

As modifier, adverbs of time modifies the noun in a noun phrase and can be apost-modifier, this function is done by most time when adverbs, e.g:

- The meeting at night was very secret.

To summary, we have discussed English adverbs and adverbs of time including:definition, forms, classifications, positions and functions English adverbs of time are

an essential element to clarify the time an action happens or is done

an adjective, or clause in meaning.

Examples: - Uống nhiều [drink much]

- Béo quá [too fat]

- Bất đắc dĩ, tôi phải lấy cô ta.

[Reluctantly, I had to marry her]

They express meanings of manner, place, time, progress, means, causes, state,etc

Examples: - Nó đứng đằng trớc tôi.

[He stands in front of me]

- Anh ấy vừa đi.

[He has just gone]

Furthermore, adverbs are only the addition of manner, place, time, degree, etc tothe sentence and are not often subjects or predicators If they are separated, theyare mostly lexically meaningless

Vietnamese adverbs are inconspicuous and no certain rule in their formationThey are mostly from other word classes like: verbs, adjectives or nouns that makelearners confused when learning English Besides, they relate to adjectives andlexically adjectives themselves which show properties and characteristics of peopleand also objects Some of them change their functions and grammatical meaningswhen they combine with verbs that make fall in the group denoting manner and

characteristics of an action like: vụng về‘ ’ (clumsy), liều‘ ’ (risky), hài h‘ ớc’

(humorous), chậm‘ ’(slow), etc

Examples: - Câu trả lời của nó thật vụng về!

[How clumsy his answer is!]

Vụng về‘ ’ is an adjective expressing man’s property

- Nó vụng về trả lời câu hỏi.

[He clumsily answers the question]

Vụng về‘ ’ is an adverb which describes the way an action happens clearlybecause of the transformation of grammatical functions and meanings

Besides, the transformation of meaning and grammatical functions occur in a

lot of verbs, especially emotional verbs such as: ‘ngạc nhiên’(surprise), hốt‘

hoảng’ (panic), ngơ ngác ‘ ’ (be dazed), etc

Example: - Sao nó ngạc nhiên thế?

[Why is he surprised like that?]

However, these adverbs are called adverbs qualifying the manner of actions ifthey occur before the other verbs

Example: - Nó ngạc nhiên nhìn tôi.

[He surprisingly looks at me]

Moreover, Vietnamese adverbs consist of simple adverbs and compoundadverbs in which simple adverbs occupy mostly They are one word only and

function as an adverb, e.g: đây‘ ’ (here), đó / đây‘ ’ ‘ ’ (there), ‘trên’ (on), ‘dới’ (in), ‘ngay / liền’ ‘ ’ (at once), etc They are manner adverbs when combined with

other word class ( verbs ) such as: dọc‘ ’ (kẻ dọc), xổm‘ ’ (ngồi xổm), sấp‘ ’ (nằm

sấp), etc, and some adjectives when combine with verbs, transformed adverbs

expressing quanlity of action like: đẹp‘ ’ (mặc đẹp), tốt‘ ’ (làm tốt), xấu‘ ’ (chơi

xấu), etc Besides, compound adverbs usually include two words If each of them

is separated, it is meaningless such as: áy‘ náy , đành đạch , đột ngột’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’, etc

Some of them have its own lexical meaning when separated like: d ‘ ới thấp ,’

hôm nay , trên cao , hôm qua

Vietnamese adverbs can be classified into six types, including adverbs ofmanner, adverbs of place, adverbs of time, intensifiers, viewpoints, connecters.They are placed in the initial, medial and final positions However, most of themare placed in the initial and final positions and function as adverbial and asmodifier of verbs, of adjectives and of adverbs

Obviously, Vietnamese adverbs are very complicated in the formation and inthe sentence

2.2 Vietnamese adverbs of time

2.2.1 Definition

Adverbs of time are those which tell us about when at which an action happens.They do not affect structurally but expressing the time grammatically of the

sentence Adverb of time serve as a response to questions such as: bao lâu‘ ’ (how

long) and bao giờ‘ ’ (when)

Example: - Sáng hôm sau, Mị mới biết mình ngồi trong nhà thống lí Pá Tra.

(6, 90)

[Tomorrow morning, Mi found that she was in the authority leader Pa Tra’s house] -Bao giờ Mị mới biết mình đang ngồi trong nhà thống lí Pá Tra?

[When did Mi find that she was in the authority leader Pa Tra’s house?]

2.2.2 Forms of Vietnamese Adverbs of Time

2.2.2.1 Simple Adverbs

There are a lot of adverbs of time which are one-word adverbs denoting the

time of an action happens, e.g: nay‘ ’ (now), mai‘ ’ (tomorrow), mới‘ ’ (just), vừa‘

mới’ (just), sắp‘ ’ (be about to), ‘rồi/’ xong‘ ’ (already), sớm‘ ’ (early), muộn‘ ’ (late),

‘ngay / liền’ ‘ ’ (at once), etc

Examples: - “Đời ngời nh thế là xong một đời”.

‘ sau ’ (the following day), hôm kia‘ ’ (a day before yesterday)

- Ngày‘ ’ (day) : ngày nay‘ ’ (nowadays), ngày mai‘ ’ (tomorrow), ngày sau‘ ’ (in a

distant future), ngày tr‘ ớc’ (formerly), ngày kia‘ ’ (the day after tomorrow), ngày‘

xa’ (once upon a time).

Besides, they formed by the combination between từ‘ ’ with place adverbs and

other adverbs , e.g : từ đấy‘ ’ (from then), từ đây‘ ’ (from now on), ‘từ mai’ (from tomorrow), từ ‘ đó’ (from that time), etc

Example:- Từ đó, anh vẫn đi về trên con dờng dẫn tới ngôi trờng bé nhỏ thân

th-ơng

[From that time, he still goes on the way to lovely school]

And there are other compound adverbs such as: đầu tiên‘ ’ (firstly), cuối cùng‘ ’/

‘sau cùng ’ (finally), hồi ấy‘ ’ (at that time), x ‘ a kia’ (formerly), bây giờ‘ ’ (now),

lập tức

‘ ’ (immediately), etc

2.2.2.3 Adverb Clauses

Adverb clauses of time are clauses denoting the time an action happened and

introduced by: khi‘ ’ (when), sau khi‘ ’ (after), tr ‘ ớc khi’ (before), lúc‘ ’ (while), bao‘

giờ’(when), etc

Examples:- Bao giờ gặp anh, tôi sẽ cho anh biết sự thật.

[ when I meet him I will tell him the truth]

- Trớc khi chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh mất, Ngời đã để lại di chúc cho

dân tộc ta

[Before Vietnamese ex-president Ho Chi Minh died, he had written the

testament to our nation]

- Lúc tôi đang làm bài tập, chuông điện thoại reo.

[While I was doing exercises, the phone rang]

2.2.3 Classification of Vietnamese Adverbs of Time

Vietnamese adverbs of time are used in various meanings They can be dividedinto four main semantic classes

2.2.3.1 Time When Adverbs

Time when adverbs answer a when question such as: hôm nay‘ ’ (today), ‘hôm

qua’ (yesterday), hôm nọ‘ ’ (on the other day), ngày nay‘ ’ (now), ‘ngày sau’ (in a distant future), ngày mai‘ ’ (tomorrow), ngày tr‘ ớc’ (formerly), bây giờ‘ ’ (now),

lúc đó

‘ ’ (at that time), ‘mai sau’ (in the future), tháng tr‘ ớc’ (last month), etc

Examples: - Bây giờ tôi sẽ ra phi trờng.

[Now I’ll go to the airport]

- Hôm qua anh đến chơi nhà

Thấy mẹ nằm võng thấy cha nằm giờng

(Ca dao)

2.2.3.2 Time Duration Adverbs