"đang" in Vietnamese: meaning, usage & examples — Tense & Aspect

Definition

What it means

Illustration for the Vietnamese grammar pattern đang

English

The word "đang" marks an action that is in progress — something happening right now, or ongoing at the time you are talking about. It is the closest Vietnamese has to the English "-ing" of "is doing / was doing". Because the verb itself never changes form, đang is the little signal that tells the listener "this is unfolding, not finished".

Tiếng Việt

Từ "đang" đánh dấu một hành động đang diễn ra — chuyện đang xảy ra ngay lúc này, hoặc đang tiếp diễn vào thời điểm mình nói tới. Nó gần giống đuôi "-ing" trong tiếng Anh. Vì động từ tiếng Việt không đổi dạng, "đang" chính là tín hiệu cho người nghe biết việc này đang xảy ra chứ chưa xong.

Pattern

How the sentence is built

S đang V (O)

Examples

In real Southern Vietnamese

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Tui đang nấu cơm, lát nữa gọi lại nha.

I'm cooking right now, I'll call you back in a bit.
Ba đang ngủ, con nói nhỏ thôi.

Dad is sleeping, keep your voice down.
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“đang” has more than one use

Same word, different jobs in a sentence. These are covered separately:

đang The word "đang" means "is/am/are doing something" or "in the process of doing something". It's used to describ…

Usage notes

Goes BEFORE the verb to mark an ongoing action — the 'be -ing' equivalent. 'Em đang ăn cơm' = I am eating. Works for both present-progressive ('right now') and past-progressive ('was doing') when paired with a time word: 'Hôm qua em đang học thì má gọi' = I was studying when Mom called.

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đang