Vừa (Adv)

Situations

S: At 8:00, Hà arrived at Nam's house. Nam had left at 7:50. Nam's mother says:

Nam vừa đi ra ngoài.
(Nam has just gone out.)

Vừa is used because the 10-minute interval is considered very short.

Definition

Vừa, as an adverb, is used to express an action or state that occurred right before a set point of time.

  • vừa and mới: Cf. mới1 (p. 257).

Combinations

  • vừa mới: Emphasizes that an action occurred very recently.
[1] Tôi vừa mới đến. (I've just arrived.)
  • vừa... đã...: Two actions happening in rapid succession without a pause.
[2] Anh mệt quá nên vừa nằm xuống đã ngủ.
    (He was so tired that as soon as he lay down, he fell asleep.)
  • vừa... vừa...: Two events, qualities, or actions happening simultaneously.
[3] Anh ta thường vừa ăn cơm tối vừa xem TV.
    (He usually watches TV while eating dinner.)
[4] Cô ấy vừa thông minh vừa chăm chỉ.
    (She is both intelligent and diligent.)
  • vừa... vừa... can sometimes be replaced by:
- không những... mà còn...
- đã... còn...
- đã... lại...

These emphasize a complementary relationship where the second item adds value to the first. Both items must be positive or both negative. However, không những... mà còn... does not always imply simultaneity in the way vừa... vừa... does.