When to use it
Use it before a weekend shop when you are not sure the supermarket opens.
“Is the supermarket open on Sundays?” — The sentence in English
In “Is the supermarket open on Sundays?” ‘Is’ moves to the front, ‘open’ is an adjective, and plural ‘Sundays’ means every Sunday.
- Is
- verbbe · tense: present · person: third · number: singular · form of "to be"; it moves to the front to make the question
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- supermarket
- nounnoun
- open
- adjectiveadjective; in English a shop "is open"
- on
- prepositionpreposition used with days of the week
- Sundays
- nounplural noun; days of the week take a capital letter
“Siêu thị có mở cửa vào Chủ nhật không?” — The sentence in Vietnamese
In “Siêu thị có mở cửa vào Chủ nhật không?” the frame ‘có… không?’ surrounds ‘mở cửa’ (open the door, open for business). ‘vào Chủ nhật’ (on Sunday) means every Sunday without a plural.
- Siêu
- nounfirst syllable of siêu thị
- thị
- nounwith siêu: 'supermarket'
- có
- particleopens the có… không? question frame
- mở
- verbmở cửa · tense: unmarked · 'open (for business)'
- cửa
- noun'door'; mở cửa = open
- vào
- preposition'on', before a weekday
- Chủ
- proper nounfirst syllable of Chủ nhật
- nhật
- proper nounwith Chủ: 'Sunday'
- không
- particlecloses the question frame
English × Vietnamese: What changes from one language to the other
English inverts ‘Is’; Vietnamese adds ‘có… không’. ‘open’ is an adjective in English and ‘mở cửa’ a verb in Vietnamese.
Example conversation
— Siêu thị có mở cửa vào Chủ nhật không?
— Is the supermarket open on Sundays?
— Có, nhưng chỉ đến tám giờ tối.
— Yes, but only until eight in the evening.