vậy

See also: vay, váy, vây, and vaþ

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

(Southern pronunciation spelling) dậy, dzậy
(Southern pronunciation spelling, vowel weakening) dợ, dzợ
(abbreviation) v
(abbreviation, Southern) z; j

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [vəj˧˨ʔ]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [vəj˨˩ʔ]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [vəj˨˩˨] ~ [jəj˨˩˨]

Adverb

vậy • (丕)

so, thus
Synonyms: thế, rứa

Vietnamese demonstratives
Visibility/evidentiality⁶
	Proximal (*-iː)	Distal 1 (*-iːʔ)	Distal 2 (*-əːʔ)	Distal 3/ Remote (*-ɔːʔ)	Interrogative (rime was a rounded back vowel)
Place, attributive¹ n-	ni nì này/nầy nây	nấy	nớ	nọ (nó)	nào
Place, nominal² đ-	đây	đấy (ấy)	—	đó	đâu
Manner r-	ri rày	—	rứa	—	ru sao³
Extent 1⁴ b-	bây	bấy	—	—	bao
Extent 2⁵ v-	vầy	vậy	—	—	—
¹ Originally can only follow a nominal (being used attributively), hence nơi này (“this place; here”), nơi nào (“where”) (no longer completely true in the modern language). ² Can be used on its own/is itself nominal, hence đây (“here”), đâu (“where”). ³ From earlier C-raːw (where C is nonspecific consonant). ⁴ Placed before the head: bây nhiêu (“this much”), bấy nhiêu (“that much”), bao nhiêu (“how much”). ⁵ Placed after the head: nhanh vầy (“this fast”), nhanh vậy (“that fast/so fast”).
	Distal (ngang)			Remote (huyền)
Northern-Southern	kia (cơ)			kìa (cờ)
Central	tê			tề
⁶ Originally, these demonstratives might have been used to assert that something is visible and/or verifiable. They have been bleached quite thoroughly and currently are usually used like other distal demonstratives. The biggest trace of their evidentiality might be in their usage as final particles, often in reduced forms cơ/cờ: [t]ừ đấy về tới Hà Nội, còn những ba cái cầu nữa cơ mà! ("From there to Hanoi, there're still three more bridges to cross!") (Ba ngày luân lạc, 1943).

Particle

vậy • (丕)

intensifying sentence-final particle
Synonyms: thế, rứa

Làm sao hay quá vậy?
How did you do that?

Mày làm như mày là bác sĩ vậy.
You're talking like you were a doctor or something.

Usage notes

On the Internet, Southern speakers sometimes abbreviate this word to ⟨z⟩. This is coincidentally also the abbreviation of gì (“what”).
Z z mí ba (Gì vậy mấy ba)?
What's with you guys?