When to use it
Use it at a ticket counter when you only need a single, not a return.
“I would like a one-way ticket to Naples.” — The sentence in English
In “I would like a one-way ticket to Naples.” ‘would like’ is the polite form and ‘one-way’ is a hyphenated adjective before the noun.
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- would
- auxiliary verbwill · form: conditional · with "like" it makes a polite request
- like
- verblike · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · "would like" means "want", said politely
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- one-way
- adjectivecompound adjective; a ticket only for going, not for coming back
- ticket
- nounnoun
- to
- prepositionpreposition of direction
- Naples
- proper nounproper noun; the English name of Napoli
“Tôi muốn mua một vé một chiều đi Napoli.” — The sentence in Vietnamese
In “Tôi muốn mua một vé một chiều đi Napoli.” ‘một’ appears twice: one ticket, and ‘một chiều’ (one direction, one-way). ‘đi Napoli’ uses the verb ‘đi’ (go) where English uses ‘to’, and the city keeps its Italian name.
- Tôi
- pronoun'I', the buyer
- muốn
- verbmuốn · tense: unmarked · 'want'; polite enough at a counter
- mua
- verbmua · tense: unmarked · 'buy', right after muốn
- một
- numeral'one', the number of tickets
- vé
- noun'ticket'
- một
- numeral'one' in một chiều
- chiều
- noun'direction'; một chiều = one-way
- đi
- verbđi · tense: unmarked · 'go'; đi Napoli works like 'to Naples'
- Napoli
- proper nounItalian name of Naples, used in Vietnamese
English × Vietnamese: What changes from one language to the other
English says ‘would like’; Vietnamese just ‘muốn mua’ (want to buy), with ‘một chiều’ after the noun.
Example conversation
— Tôi muốn mua một vé một chiều đi Napoli.
— I would like a one-way ticket to Naples.
— Anh đi hôm nay hay ngày mai?
— For today or tomorrow?