When to use it
Use it in a small shop or café before paying, when you are unsure cash is taken.
The sentence in English — “Can I pay in cash or only by card?”
In “Can I pay in cash or only by card?” ‘pay’ appears once, followed by two different prepositions, ‘in’ and ‘by’.
- Can
- auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission; it opens the question
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- pay
- verbpay · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "can"
- in
- prepositionpreposition
- cash
- noununcountable noun; money in notes and coins
- or
- coordinating conjunctioncoordinating conjunction
- only
- adverbadverb
- by
- prepositionpreposition
- card
- nounnoun; a bank card
The sentence in Vietnamese — “Tôi trả tiền mặt được không, hay chỉ trả bằng thẻ?”
In “Tôi trả tiền mặt được không, hay chỉ trả bằng thẻ?” two clauses are joined by ‘hay’ (or), and ‘trả’ (pay) is repeated. ‘tiền mặt’ (cash) takes no preposition, while ‘thẻ’ (card) takes ‘bằng’ (by).
- Tôi
- pronoun'I', the payer
- trả
- verbtrả · tense: unmarked · 'pay'; trả tiền mặt = pay cash
- tiền
- nounpart of tiền mặt
- mặt
- nountiền mặt = cash
- được
- auxiliary verbđược · tense: unmarked · asks whether it is allowed
- không
- particleends the first question
- hay
- coordinating conjunction'or', between two options in a question
- chỉ
- adverb'only'
- trả
- verbtrả · tense: unmarked · repeated in the second part, unlike English
- bằng
- preposition'by'
- thẻ
- noun'card'
English × Vietnamese — What changes from one language to the other
English uses ‘in’ and ‘by’ without repeating the verb; Vietnamese repeats ‘trả’ and needs only ‘bằng’.
Example conversation
— Tôi trả tiền mặt được không, hay chỉ trả bằng thẻ?
— Can I pay in cash or only by card?
— Tiền mặt được, bên em nhận cả chuyển khoản QR.
— Cash is fine, we also take QR transfers.