các
Vietnamese edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
Sino-Vietnamese word from 各 (“each, individually, every, all”).
Determiner edit
các
- Plural marker
Usage notes edit
- Not used very often in colloquial Vietnamese, replaced by mấy, except in pronouns (such as các bạn). Even then, the use of these pronouns might indicate that the speaker wants to sound serious.
- Generally speaking, các suggests that all of a given set of entities are involved, as opposed to những, which implies that only a certain number of the total possible number are referred to.
- Plural marking is not always grammatically required in Vietnamese, in contrast with many Indo-European languages, and can be omitted in many situations.
Synonyms edit
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
các
- (dated) cell phone's card
Alternative forms edit
Etymology 3 edit
Verb edit
các
- to pay the difference, to give in compensation