Phải (V 2)

Situations

S1: Lâm caused an accident and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment.

Lâm phải ngồi tù sáu tháng.
(Lâm got six months' imprisonment.)

S2: Lan married a man who everyone thought was good, but he turned out to be lazy.

Cô ấy lấy phải người chồng lười biếng.
(Unfortunately, she got a lazy husband.)

Lan's marriage to a lazy man is considered unlucky (she didn't know he was lazy before).

Definition

Phải, as a verb, is used to express that someone undergoes something unlucky or unfavorable, as expressed by the object which follows.

  • phải, được, bị: Phải is one of the "passive" verbs (bị, được, phải). It conveys a meaning similar to bị and contrary to được. However, bị and phải are used differently:
  • bị usually appears before a verb.
  • phải usually comes after another verb or before a noun.
[1] Nó bị phạt. (Unfortunately, he was fined.) (bị + Verb)
[2] Nó phải đòn. (Unfortunately, he was spanked.) (phải + Noun)
[3] Cô ấy lấy phải chồng lười. (Unfortunately, she got a lazy husband.) (Verb + phải)

Cf. bị (p. 17), được1 (p. 139).

NOTES

The combination phải + noun ([S1]) only occurs in certain (often idiomatic) expressions such as phải đòn, phải gió, phải vôi, phải bỏng, etc.