Đấy (De Pro)

Situations

S1: Mai's husband brings home many gifts. Mai picks up one of the packages and asks: "What's this, honey?". Mai's husband answers:

Đấy là quà đặc biệt cho em. Em mở ra đi.
(That is a special gift for you. Open it!)

In this situation, đấy is used to indicate something which is far from the speaker (Mai's husband) but near the listener (Mai).

S2: Lan asks Nam: "Which company does that building belong to?". Nam answers:

Đấy là trụ sở của công ty liên doanh VT.
(That is the head office of the VT joint-venture company.)

In this situation, đấy is a demonstrative pronoun used to refer to a thing / person which is far from both speaker and listener.

S3: On Sunday, Ba's family wants to go out for fun, but they don't know where to go. Ba's wife says:

Mình đi Thủ Đức đi! Ở đấy, nghe nói có nhiều trò chơi mới lắm.
(Let's go to Thủ Đức! I've heard that there are many new games there!)

Đấy, in this situation, is used to indicate the place mentioned previously, i.e., Thủ Đức.

S4: After spending time in the hospital, Nam stopped smoking.

Từ đấy anh Nam bỏ thuốc.
(Since then Nam stopped smoking.)

Đấy, in this situation, indicates the point of time mentioned previously, i.e., after spending time in the hospital.

Definition

Đấy, as a demonstrative pronoun, is used to indicate a thing / person which is far from the speaker or mentioned previously. Đấy is also used to indicate the point of time which was mentioned previously.

  • Đấy is one of the demonstrative pronouns: đây, đó, kia, đấy, ấy. Cf:
[1a] Cái gì đây?
     (What's this?)
[1b] Cái gì kia?
     (What's that? / What's that over there?)
[1c] Cái gì đấy?
     (What's that? / What's that over there?)

Cf. đây1 (p. 123), kia1 (p. 161), ấy1 (p. 11).