HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
..

VERB PHRASE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu

Student: Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tho _ 5CQDP

HCMC, 30/12/2009

ABSTRACT
It is very difficult to understand the structure, sentence, clause or text of any
language without analyzing the components which form them. These components are
very various and complicated. They may be word phrases such as noun phrase, verb
phrase, adverb phrase or adjective phrase... In linguistics, verb phrase is considered a
complicated term, especially in Vietnamese. In fact, many Vietnamese authors of
grammatical books agree that Vietnamese verb phrase is so various in terms of form
and meaning and it is used not only in daily life but also in literature. In different
language, verb phrase has different ways to form. English also has its own ways to form
verb phrases. Therefore, this paper help us have information about verb phrase in
English and Vietnamese in a contrastive view of formation. Furthermore, at the end of
this paper, I will discuss some implications for language teaching. I hope that through
this topic, readers will know the similarities and differences of verb phrase in English
and in Vietnamese.
Definition
Verb phrase is a free word phrase having main- subordinate relation and
containing a verb serve as the central element and many additive elements which
modify the meanings for the central element (the information of Gio trnh ng php
Ting Vit tp II, 80)
Characteristics

verb phrase always contains a verb as the central element.

the central element usually governs additive elements.

Verb Phrase in English

Verb phrase in English includes three main components:

auxiliaries

main or lexical verbs

complementation

the formation of English verb phrase is: auxiliary + main verb + complementation
1. Auxiliaries
Auxiliaries are used to encode the following categories within the verb phrase:
*Aspect is expressed by using either the verb be and the present participle for the
progressive aspect or the verb have with a past participle for the perfect aspect.
Formation:
Progress: to be + V_ing
Is/am/are + V_ing
Eg: He is doing his homework now.
I am thinking of you now.
They are swimming now.
Was/were + V_ing
Eg: He was studying philosophy.
They were having their breakfast at 8 oclock yesterday
Will/may/must/can/could/should/would/might + be + V_ing
Eg: Tom must be staying at Thang Long Hotel at the moment.
Tom will be coming back tomorrow.

Has/have been + V_ing

Had been + V_ing
Eg: They have been living here for three years.
He has been learning English for four years.
They had been meeting in the zoo.
Perfect: has/have/had + main verb (past participle)
Eg: I have learned English for three years.
He has worked for that company since 1992.
Mai had gone to London before she moved here.
*Modality is expressed with the auxiliaries can, could, may, might, must, will, would,
shall, should, ought to, dare and used to
Formation: modal + verb (bare infinitive)
Eg: He can sing
You should stay at home.
You ought to finish your work before going out.
I used to fly a kite when I was a little boy.
*Passive voice is expressed by using the verb be and a main verb in the past participle
form.
Formation: to be + verb (past participle)
Is/am/are + verb (past participle)
Eg: He is punished
They are beaten
I am kicked by him

Was/were + verb (past participle)

Eg: The window was broken
Only a few fish were caught by the fishermen.
Has/have/had + been + verb (past participle)
Eg: Wolves have been seen in the streets.
His name has been forgotten
May/will/would/might/can/could/must/should/have to + be + verb (past participle)
Eg: These doors must be shut.
A song can be sung by her.
Is/am/are + being + verb (past participle)
Eg: The bridge is being repaired.
Was/were + being + verb (past participle)
Eg: A house was being built by him.
Has/have/had + been + being + verb (past participle)
Eg: English has been being learned by them.
All these cakes have been being eaten by them.
Rice had been being cooked by my mother.
May/might/will/would/can/could/should/must + have + been + verb (past
participle)
Eg: He should have been punished.
All the decorating will have been finished by the weekend.
She should have been informed about the delay.

*Interrogative clauses are using by the auxiliary do/does/did before the subject and a
main verb in the plain form.
Eg: Do you want that house?
Did you meet him yesterday?
*Negation is expressed by using the auxiliary dont/doesnt/didnt and a main verb in
the plain form
Eg: I dont want that house.
I didnt meet him yesterday.
All the auxiliaries I have mentioned can be remembered easily through this table
(hypertextbooks grammar website)
Some Examples of the Verb Phrase in English
FUNCTION Auxiliaries

Main Verb

(a)

do

(b)

can

(c)

may

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

(i)

should

be

(j)

might have

been

believe
go

have
has

might have

gone
is

going

been

waiting

been

waiting

are

were

hired

being

hired
trying

being

interviewed

FORM
Modal Perfect Progressive Passive Auxiliary Support Main Verb
2. Main verb

According to the information of the grammarpedia website, the English verb includes
following types:
*Intransitive verb: come, go, move...
Eg: He has just come.
*Complex intransitive verb + complement/ adverb: to be, become...
Eg: They became close friends three years ago.
*Transitive verb + object direct: buy, sell...
Eg: They have just bought a new car.
*Complex transitive verb + object direct +complement/ adverb: paint, vote, appoint,
elect...
Eg: He painted this door blue.
Ms Giang was appointed the manager last week.
*Distransitive verb + object indirect + object direct: give, offer, bring...
Eg: He gave her a red rose on her birthday.
Distransitive verb: gave
Object direct: her

Object indirect: a red rose

These verbs can be made understandable through this table
(S = subject, V = verb, O = object, O i = indirect object, O d = direct object, PC =
predicative complement)
Transitivity type
Basic Constituents Example
Intransitive
SV
Sarah sneezed.
Complex intransitive S V PC
Sarah is a teacher.
Transitive
SVO
Sarah ate an apple.
Complex transitive S V O PC
Sarah considers George a genius.
i
d
Ditransitive
SVO O
Sarah gave Debbie a book.
3. Complementation
In English verb phrases, the main verb sometimes is followed by the complementation
which can be divided into two types: complement and adjuncts.
3.1 Complement
There are three basic types of complements:

objects

predicative complements

complements that express other types of semantic relation such as location

Objects

An object is a noun phrase complement required by the verb and is affected by

the situation described by the verb. There are two types of objects: direct and indirect
objects. They are illustrated in this table.
SUBJECT PREDICATOR Oi
Michael
bakes
Jude
Francis
gave
Sandy
Clyde

tells

Od
a cake every birthday.
fifty cents.
the most exaggerated stories about his fishing

everyone
exploits.

Moreover, objects can sometimes be encoded either by noun phrases (like eggs) or by
subordinate clauses (like to play chess)
Predicative complements (PC)
Predicative complements are used to provide additional information about another
entity in the clause and they do not refer to a new entity. Verbs that require predicate
complements are be, feel, seem, appear. There are different kinds of predicative
complements:

adjective phrase complement: appear very friendly

noun phrase complement: is a friend

prepositional phrase complement: appear in good form

finite clause: feels she is better than ever

non-finite clause: seems to play piano well

Another type of complements is a preposition phrase or adverbial phrase that indicates

the direction of the movement.

prepositional phrase complement: sat on the chair

adverbial phrase complement: sat down

Furthermore, we have to pay attention to phrasal verbs which are also considered verb
phrases. Phrasal verbs refer to a number of verbs that include a preposition as a
particle.
Eg: turn the light on/ brighten the room up
3.2 Adjuncts
Adjuncts are adverbs or adverbial phrases and clauses that encode adverbial
meanings. There is quite a wide variety of semantic and syntactic types of structures
that can be used as adjuncts. The following two tables will illustrate these two types:
Semantic types of adjuncts in English:
Adjunct type
Manner
Place
Time
Durations
Frequency
Purpose
Condition
Concession

Example
Debbie and Jude watched the movie reluctantly.
Debbie and Jude watched the movie at the Nova.
Debbie and Jude watched the movie yesterday.
Debbie and Jude watched the movie for ten minutes.
Debbie and Jude watched the movie every week.
Debbie and Jude watched the movie to find out what happened.
Debbie and Jude will watch the movie if they must.
Although they were reluctant, Debbie and Jude watched the movie.

Grammatical structures of adjuncts:

Grammatical
Example
structure
AdvP

Debbie and Jude watched the movie reluctantly

Grammatical
Example
structure
PP
NP

Debbie and Jude watched the movie at the Nova

Debbie and Jude watched the movie every week
Although they were reluctant, Debbie and Jude watched the

Finite clause
movie.
Debbie and Jude watched the movie to find out what
Non-finite clause
happened.

Verb phrase in Vietnamese

Verb phrase in Vietnamese includes three elements: pre-additive element + central
element + post-additive element.
1) Pre-additive element
We can divide pre-additive element into the following groups (Gio trnh ng php
Ting Vit tp II)
*Words with sense of continuing of activity or state: u, cng, vn, c, li, mi, tip
tc...
Eg: H vn ngi im.
vn is pre-additive element of the verb phrase vn ngi
*Words indicate the time of action or state: tng, , va, mi, ang, s...
Eg: Em s k anh nghe

Chuyn con thuyn v bin

S is the pre-additive element of the verb phrase s k
*Words indicate the frequency: thng, hay, nng, t, i khi, thnh thong...
Eg: Anh ta thnh thong gh qua ch ti.
Thnh thong is the pre-additive element of the verb phrase thnh thong gh
*Words indicate the negation or affirmation: khng, cha, chng, ch...
Eg: Em y, i chng cn ng ngi
Em y, bn tay tin cy
Chng is the pre-additive element
*Words indicate the level: rt, hi, khi, qu...
Eg: Rt p hnh anh lc nng chiu
Rt is the pre-additive element
*Words indicate the order: hy, ng, ch...
Eg: Ch ni ci, hy lng nghe xem
Ch ,hy is the pre-additive element of the verb phrase Ch ni ci, hy lng
nghe

*Words indicate the limitation: ch

Eg: C y ch xinh thi
2) The central element
The central element is divided into five groups (the information of English verb
phrases versus Vietnamese verb phrases website)
*Group 1: These verbs do not stand alone, they are usually followed by other verbs.
There are many different types:
- Modal verbs: phi, nn, cn, dm, c th, s, nh...
Eg: N nh ngh hc
nh is the central element
- Passive: b, c, mc, phi, chu...
Eg: Anh ta b thy pht
b is the central element
- Verb phrase with two parallely existential actions: ng khc, nm ng, i hc, i chi,
ngi nghe...
Eg: Anh ta i chi ph
i chi is the central element

- Verb phrase with two actions but the second verb is an additive element in sense: n
ng, ng ngi, t nm, cht ng...
Eg: t nm ln gi sch
t is the central element and nm is the additive element
*Group 2: Verbs always go with additive elements
- Verbs with sense of moving: m, dy, ko, n, xung, i, bng....
Eg: Anh ta i ra
i is the central element and ra is the additive element
- Verbs with sense of achieving results: hiu ra, c xong, bay mt, nht ly, thu c,
tm thy...
Eg: N bay mt con g
bay is the central element and mt is the additive element
- Verbs with sense of affecting two objects: cho, tng, biu, ly, mn, vay, cm, xin,
gi...
Eg: My tng Th hai cun truyn
central element: tng
object 1: Th

object 2: hai cun truyn

- Verbs with sense of governing two objects and objects activities are actions of order:
bo, sai, bt, cho php, buc, khin...
Eg: Thy gio bo Nam ln bng
bo is the central element
- Verbs with sense of governing an object and connecting with another object: trn, pha,
ni, chp, ha...
Eg: Trn bt vi ng
trn is the central element
bt and ng are objects
- Verbs with sense of governing additive element and having the structure A is B and
meanings of evaluating: coi, bu, ly, xem, c...
Eg: Coi anh l bn
Bu ng Thao l ch tch
*Group 3: combination of verbs: chy ra chy vo, bn qua bn li, i ngc v xui,
tro ln tt xung...

*Group 4: Verbs with sense of the state or a period of an action: bt u hc, tip tc i,
thi ni, ht chy, ngng hc....
*Group 5: Verbs with sense of mood: lo lng, bn chn, thoi thp, thp thm...
Eg: Ngi m ang lo lng v a con ca mnh
3) Post-additive element
Post-additive element of Vietnamese verb phrase is very complicated in terms of
word, formation and meaning (the information of English verb phrase versus
Vietnamese verb phrase website)
*Words: noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, adverb, number can stand after verb
Eg: n cm (cm is a noun)
i hc (hc is a verb)
i nhanh (nhanh is an adjective)
Ght n (n is a pronoun)
*Formation: a single word, a word phrase or a sentence can stand after a verb
Eg: ni chm (chm is a word)
ni cho vui nh (cho vui nh is a word phrase)
ni chng ta c nhiu tin b (chng ta c nhiu tin b is a sentence)

*Meanings: additive elements after verbs have many different meanings

- Words with sense of line of action: i ra, tr li, nhn sang, bay qua, i ti...
- Words with sense of state and process of action: i ngay, ni lin, tr li lp tc, n
na, ni hoi...
- Words with sense of order: v no, ni i, ngh thi, ch vi, ng , tin ln, ht ln...
- Words with sense of finishing or beginning an action: lm xong, n xong, c ri, hiu
ri, nghe ri...
- Words with sense of passive, beneficial or damaged results: gp phi, bay mt, hao
i, phi, nhn c, thu v...
- Words with sense of mutual interaction or itself: lm ly, vit ly, gii quyt ly...
- Words with sense of including two elements connecting A and B: trn bt vi ng
- Words with sense of addition: ni vo, bn vo...
- Words with sense of decreasing: co ra, bt i...
- Words with sense of increasing: xng ti, tng ln....
- Words with sense of repetition: ni li, vn li, nhc li, xin li...
Through what I have discussed, you can see all the characteristics of English
and Vietnamese verb phrases. Verb phrases in English include three elements:

auxiliary, main verb and complementation. Like English, verb phrases in Vietnamese
also have three elements: pre-additive element, central element and post-additive
element. Within this paper, I would like to discuss the contrast between English and
Vietnamese verb phrases in term of the parallel elements in the two formation of verb
phrases.
- Firstly, I will discuss the contrast between English and Vietnamese first element of verb
phrase. In English, the first element of verb phrase is the auxiliary and in Vietnamese, it
is pre-additive element. The auxiliaries mainly focus on grammar. On the contrary, preadditive elements mainly focus on meanings, just two groups of word belong to
grammar. Therefore, like English, Vietnamese pre-additive elements also have the
same meaning with auxiliary of tense in English:
He will go to school tomorrow.

Ngy mai anh y s i hc.

However, because it is said that there is no tense in Vietnamese sentences, the

formation of first element of verb phrases of English and Vietnamese has differences
although their meanings are the same. For example, khng, chng, cha in
Vietnamese are similar to not in English
He didnt do his homework yesterday.
She hasnt finished her homework.
I am studying.

Ngy hm qua anh y khng lm bi tp.

C y cha lm xong bi tp.
Ti ang hc

the differences of the form

Moreover, many linguistics agree that pre-additive elements of verb phrases in

Vietnamese are more various than these in English in term of meaning. They not only
have groups of word that have the meaning similar to auxiliary but also have other
groups of words with different meanings which English pre-additive elements do not
have.
Anh y vn ht.

He still sings

(vn is pre-additive element of verb phrase in Vietnamese, but still is not pre-additive
element of verb phrase in English)
C y thnh thong thm ti.

She sometimes visits me.

(thnh thong is pre-additive element of verb phrase in Vietnamese, but sometimes is

not pre-additive element of verb phrase in English)
- Second element of English and Vietnamese verb phrase that we continue discussing
is the central elements (main verbs). Like English, some Vietnamese main verbs also
take two objects (distransitive verbs) and some verbs have the structure of A is B
(complex transitive verbs)
Lan gives Nam two books
He considers her a genius

Lan cho Nam hai quyn sch

Anh y xem c y l mt thin ti

However, the forms of two structures are different. In English, there is no word between
two objects, but in Vietnamese, we have the word l between the two objects.

In addition, there is a different between central element in English and Vietnamese. It is

the appearance of modal verb passive verb which are considered the pre-additive
element of verb phrase in English.
Ti nn i ngh.

I should go to bed.

(nn is the central element, but should is the pre-additive element)

Anh ta b pht

He is punished

(b is the central element, but is is the pre-additive element)

Furthermore, Vietnamese verbs are more complicated and interesting than English
verbs. The interesting thing is the combination of verbs in Vietnamese, sometimes it is
the reduplication (lo lng, bn chn, thoi thp, thp thm...). Vietnamese verbs are also
complicated because of their meanings (t nm, cht ng, ng ngi...). These verbs
do not appear in English. This complication may be the result of the variety of
Vietnamese language.
- The last element of verb phrase is the post-additive element. Both English and
Vietnamese verbs are followed by objects with different types of word (noun, pronoun,
adverb, adjective)
They eat fruits

H n tri cy

He hates her

Anh y ght c y

He walks very fast

Anh y i mt cch nhanh chng

She is very beautiful

C y rt p

However, there is a difference in the case of an adjective after a verb between English
and Vietnamese verb phrases. In English, adverb always go with verb (except some
verbs: to be, become, feel...), but in Vietnamese, this kind of adverb in English is
considered adjective. For instance, He walks very fast (fast is an adverb) - Anh y i
nhanh (nhanh is an adjective)
Moreover, there is a special thing in Vietnamese verb. The verb is considered postadditive element of verb phrase. English does not have object as a verb.
Ti i hc

I go to school

+ About the form, both English and Vietnamese verb phrases have post-additive
element as a single word, word phrase or a sentence.
We eat apples

Chng ta n to

She appears in a nice dress

C y xut hin vi mt b m p

She says we have a lot of progress

C y ni chng ta c nhiu tin b.

+ About meaning, post-additive elements in Vietnamese are more complicated than

these in English. This variety of meaning comes from different kinds of expression in
Vietnamese and it is also considered the beauty of Vietnamese language (ch vi, ng
, hao i, ni hoi...) which we can not see in English language.

Through a contrastive view of English and Vietnamese verb phrase, I would like
to discuss some implications for language teaching at high school in our country.
- Firstly, most of Vietnamese students have a tendency to translate word by word.
Therefore, they should be teach how to translate Vietnamese verb phrases into English
verb phrases. For example, some students may translate i hc (go to school) into go
study because they think that i and hc are two different verbs. Teachers should give
examples to clarify the structure of Vietnamese verb phrases as well as English verb
phrases.
- Secondly, teachers should use syntactic diagram tree to help students understand the
structure of English verb phrases easily. As a result, they can know what is the main
element or what is modifier, which is very useful for students to make sentences easily
when they write.
- Finally, teachers should remember that verb phrase is very difficult for students at high
school to understand easily, so it is necessary to give students more exercises to
practice. In addition, teachers can introduce verb phrase when teaching verbs in
vocabulary.
In conclusion, verb phrase is a part in the structure of a sentence. It is used in
both daily life and literature. A contrastive analysis between English and Vietnamese is
useful because it can help us understand the differences between verb phrase of two
languages. Furthermore, some implications for teaching are discussed so that teachers

can make the teaching easier. I hope that this paper provides useful knowledge as well
as some ideas for teaching English.

REFERENCES CITED
L Cn, Phan Thiu, Dip Quang Ban, Hong Vn Thung. (1983). Gio trnh ng php
Ting vit tp II (93-95). Ho Chi Minh City: Education Publishing House.
L Cn, Phan Thiu, Dip Quang Ban, Hong Vn Thung. (1983). Gio trnh ng php
Ting vit tp II (80). Ho Chi Minh City: Education Publishing House.
English verb phrases versus Vietnamese verb phrases. Dec 20, 2009, from ...
The Verb Phrase. Dec 25, 2009, from
Verb phrases. Dec 15, 2009, from
Trn Vn in. (1998). Vn Phm Ting Anh Thc Hnh. Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City.