Ấy (De. Adj.)

Situations

S1: Mr. Thu received a call from someone. Afterward, his wife asked him:

Người ấy là bạn cũ của ông có phải không?
(That person is your old friend, isn't it?)

Ấy here is a demonstrative adjective, used to indicate the person who has just been mentioned or known about.

S2: Mr. Lam is already old. He always thinks that the people of his time were all good, and the people of today are all bad. He says:

Cái thời ấy, ai cũng tốt cả!
(In those days, everybody was good!)

In this situation, ấy goes with a noun of time to express past time. It can also go with a noun of place to refer to a place far from the speaker.

Definition

Ấy, as a demonstrative adjective, placed after a noun (concrete noun, abstract noun, noun indicating time, noun indicating place), is used to indicate a person, thing, or event which has just been mentioned or known about.

  • Ấy belongs to the demonstrative adjective group of này, đấy, đó, and kia.
  • Ấy (as a demonstrative adjective) can often be replaced with đó, especially in the Southern dialect.

Combinations

In the Vietnamese language, many nouns indicating kinship (family relationships) may go with ấy to form personal pronouns of the third person, such as: ông ấy, bà ấy, anh ấy, chị ấy, etc.

Vợ anh tên gì? Chị ấy làm nghề gì?
(What is your wife's name? What is her job?)