Lesson 2: State and identity with and without “là”

Vietnamese does not use a single word like “to be” for everything. Instead, it expresses identity and state in different ways, often depending on what kind of word comes next and what the context is.

When you are defining or identifying someone or something with a noun, Vietnamese commonly uses là to link the two parts:

Tôi là sinh viên.
“I’m a student.”

Anh ấy là bác sĩ.
“He’s a doctor.”

Here, là connects one noun to another and signals identity or classification.

When you are describing how someone or something is, Vietnamese usually does not use là. Adjectives and stative verbs work directly as the predicate:

Tôi mệt.
“I’m tired.”

Cô ấy cao.
“She’s tall.”

Trời lạnh.
“It’s cold.”

In these sentences, there is no linking word. The description itself functions as the core of the sentence. This is very common and natural in Vietnamese.

You may also hear sentences like: Cô ấy thì cao. or Trời thì lạnh. Here, thì marks the topic and adds a slight sense of contrast or framing, often implying “as for her” or “as for the weather.” These sentences are still grammatical, but they carry a bit more structure and emphasis. In neutral descriptions, especially when no contrast is intended, the simpler forms without thì sound more natural and are used more often.

Many Vietnamese sentences express “being” without any explicit word for it. Meaning comes from context rather than from a verb like “is” or “are”.

Sometimes là can appear for emphasis or contrast, especially when the speaker wants to clearly frame something as an identity rather than a description. Most of the time, though, its presence or absence simply follows the structure of the sentence and what kind of meaning is being expressed.