làm ơn

Vietnamese

Etymology

làm (“to do”) +‎ ơn (“favour; grace”). Compare Portuguese por favor and other Romance variations.

Pronunciation

  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [laːm˨˩ ʔəːn˧˧]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [laːm˦˩ ʔəːŋ˧˧]
  • (Saigon) IPA(key): [laːm˨˩ ʔəːŋ˧˧]

Verb

làm ơn

  1. to do (someone else) a favour; to do a good turn

Usage notes

  • Làm ơn is a common (and usually awkward) translation of English please. However, the English please is usually expressed by the use of xin, vui lòng or clause-final particles (nhé, nha, đi) in Vietnamese, even in formal context. Làm ơn is most of the time sentence-initial and only used when the speaker is begging the listener urgently.

Derived terms

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