Vietnamese Classifiers

'cái' is the most common classifier for objects in Vietnamese, used for general items and things you can pick up. It also appears in phrases like 'this one' or 'that one.'

'con' is mainly used for animals, but also appears in some fixed phrases for objects with animal-like shapes, such as boats, roads, or knives.

'người' is used to count people, similar to 'person' or 'individual' in English. Vietnamese does not add another classifier for people.

'quyển' and 'cuốn' are used for books, notebooks, and other bound items, similar to 'volume' or 'book' in English.

'chiếc' is commonly used for vehicles, hats, shoes, bags, watches, and other single items. It is more specific and concrete than 'cái', emphasizing a single, distinct object.

'bức' is used for photos, paintings, letters, and walls. It is similar to 'picture', 'sheet', or 'piece' in English, but only for certain nouns.

'tờ' is used for paper, newspapers, documents, tickets, and other thin, flat items.

'ly' and 'cốc' both mean 'cup' or 'glass' and are used to count drinks or drinking vessels.

'bát' and 'tô' both mean 'bowl' and are used for servings of rice, soup, noodles, and similar foods.

'đôi' is used for things that naturally come in pairs, such as shoes, socks, chopsticks, earrings, and can also refer to a pair of people.

vị is a polite and formal classifier used for people, often for teachers, guests, experts, etc.

tấm is used for flat, thin, or board-like objects such as photos, maps, or wooden boards.

bộ is used for sets of things such as clothes, teaching materials, furniture, or movie collections.

cặp indicates paired people or items, often used for couples or paired objects.

chuyến is used for trips, vehicle runs, flights, and similar single journeys.

lần indicates the number of times an action occurs.

món is commonly used for dishes and can also refer to certain items or gifts.

căn is used for houses, apartments, rooms, and similar living spaces.

tòa is used for large buildings, structures, and institutions like courts.

cây is used for trees and also for long, thin objects like pens and umbrellas.

quả is commonly used for fruits and also for round objects like balls.

trái is commonly used for fruits, especially in southern Vietnamese spoken language.

'chai' means 'bottle' and is commonly used for water, beer, drinks, etc.

'gói' is used for items packaged in bags, such as cookies, instant noodles, or service packages.

'việc' can nominalize verbs and also mean 'a matter' or 'a task'.

The classifier câu is used for sentences, questions, story segments, and other language units.