When to use it
Use it in an unfamiliar neighbourhood to ask a local for a place to eat.
The sentence in English (“Where can I find a good restaurant nearby?”)
In “Where can I find a good restaurant nearby?” the speaker asks for a place, with ‘good’ before the noun and ‘nearby’ last.
- Where
- adverbquestion word asking about place
- can
- auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- find
- verbfind · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after a modal or after "help me"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- good
- adjectiveadjective
- restaurant
- nounnoun
- nearby
- adjectiveadjective placed after the noun
The sentence in Vietnamese (“Quanh đây có nhà hàng nào ngon không?”)
In “Quanh đây có nhà hàng nào ngon không?” Vietnamese asks whether one exists: ‘quanh đây’ (around here) ‘có’ (is there) any ‘nhà hàng ngon’ (tasty restaurant). ‘ngon’ only describes food.
- Quanh
- prepositionquanh đây = around here; clearer than gần đây, which can also mean 'lately'
- đây
- pronoun'here'
- có
- verbcó · tense: unmarked · 'there is'; asks whether something exists
- nhà
- noun'house'; nhà hàng = restaurant
- hàng
- noun'goods, trade'
- nào
- determiner'any' in có… nào… không
- ngon
- adjective'tasty, good (food)'
- không
- particleyes/no particle
What changes from one language to the other (English × Vietnamese)
English asks where; Vietnamese asks whether there is one. English ‘good’ is general, Vietnamese ‘ngon’ is about taste.
Example conversation
— Quanh đây có nhà hàng nào ngon không?
— Where can I find a good restaurant nearby?
— Quán phở ở góc đường ngon lắm.
— The pho place on the corner is very good.