bây

See also: bay, Bay, bẫy, bảy, and baþ

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɓəj˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɓəj˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʔɓəj˧˧]

• Audio (Hồ Chí Minh City)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Proto-Mon-Khmer *piʔ; cognate with Khasi phi, Pacoh ipe, Central Nicobarese [Nancowry] ifē and possibly Mon ဗှေ်.

Alternative forms

• bay

Pronoun

bây

1. (informal) you (second-person plural)

Etymology 2

Part of the b-series of demonstratives, along with bao, bấy.

Determiner

bây • (拜, 悲, 𣊾, 碑)

1. of this extent, of this amount

   Con cua này chỉ bây lớn thôi.

   This (species of) crab only grows to this size.

See also

Derived terms

• bây chừ
• bây giờ

 

Vietnamese demonstratives
Laurence Thompson (1965), Vietnamese Grammar
					Unspecified					Close to the speaker or newly introduced					Remote, already identified
PLACE đ- (first register)					đâu ‘wherever’					đây ‘here’					đấy ‘there’
REFERENCE n- (second register)					nào ‘whichever’					này ‘this’					nọ ‘that’
PROPORTION b- (first register)					bao ‘to whatever extent’					bây ‘to this extent’					bấy ‘to that extent’
MANNER s- (first register) v- (second register)					sao ‘however’					vầy ‘this way’					vậy ‘that way’
Nguyễn Phú Phong (1992), “Vietnamese Demonstratives Revisited”
				D• (Indefinite)				D1 (Proximal)				D2 (Medial)				D3 (Distal)
+NOM(inal)				đâu place-what				đây place-this				đấy place-that1
±NOM(inal)												đó (place-)that1				kia (place-)that2
–NOM(inal)				nào what				nầy this				nấy/ấy that1				nọ that2