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Chapter 1

Possessives — Using Của (and When to Drop It)

Sở hữu — dùng của và khi nào bỏ

Vietnamese builds possessives with one tiny word, của. To say "my house", "her brother", or "the company's policy", you say the thing first, then của, then the owner. That part is easy. The tricky part is knowing when của is mandatory, when it is optional, and when leaving it in actually sounds cold or weird. Family and body-part nouns usually drop của (má tôi, not má của tôi). Formal and legal contexts always keep it. This page walks you through the order, the closeness rule, and the contrast with English apostrophe-s.

Level focus: A1-A2 Southern-first 175 views

The basic shape: thing + của + owner

Vietnamese flips the English order. In English you say my house — owner first, thing second. In Vietnamese you say the thing first, then của (the possessive marker, literally "of"), then the owner.

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Illustration for the Vietnamese grammar pattern Possessives — Using *Của* (and When to Drop It)