Imperatives 1

Running head: IMPERATIVES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

Imperatives in English and Vietnamese – A Contrastive Analysis

Vo Thi Bao Chau

University of Pedagogy

Imperatives 2

Abstract

Languages are regarded as human beings’ means of

communication, interaction and integration and it is established

that there are three main moods of sentences: declarative,

interrogative and imperative (Murcia & Freeman, 1999, p.227).

Because we all can not exist on our own without any help from

other people but we have to be in company and seek help from

others in the society. That puts more emphasis on the role of

imperatives in learning a language as a mother tongue or as a

second language. We frequently use imperatives to get somebody to

do something, asking them to help or cooperate with us, naturally

and instinctively. As a Vietnamese student who has learned

English for quiet a long time and a teacher-to-be of English, I

find that learning English imperatives is an easy job to

Vietnamese but at the same time causes repeated problems due to

their unawareness of and confusion about the similarities and

differences between English and Vietnamese imperatives. So, this

paper aims at providing students as well as teacher such

information so that they can benefit in their teaching and

Imperatives 3

learning English, especially in the field of translation and

interpretation.

Imperatives 4

IMPERATIVES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE – A CONTRASTIVE

ANALYSIS

Some general perceptions of imperatives in Vietnamese and

English

According to some Vietnamese linguists such as Nguyen Kim

Than, Diep Quang Ban, Cao Xuan Hao and non-Vietnamese such as

Murcia and Freeman (1999, p228), and Downing and Locke (1995,

p.192), the imperative mood is a grammatical mood that expresses

direct commands or requests addressing the listener. It is also

used to signal a prohibition, permission or any other kind of

exhortation. When using imperatives, the speaker expects the

listener to obey, please or cooperate with him.

E.g.

(1) Keep silent for a moment. - (2) Hãy giữ yên lặng một

lát!

(3) Read the instruction carefully! - (4) Hãy đọc kỹ hướng

dẫn!

(5) Don’t make so much noice. - (6) Đừng có ồn ào như vậy!

Through the examples above, it is observed that how

imperatives are presented in English and Vietnamese. The speaker

Imperatives 5

addresses the listener, expecting and requesting the listener to

take actions such as being quiet, reading the instructions

carefully.

The basic use of imperatives is to give orders or commands

(i.e. to get someone to do something). In addition, they can be

used for advice or suggestions (7), instructions or directions

(8), permission (9), good wishes (10), informal offers or

invitations (11) warnings or reminders (12) (Eastwood, 1994,

p.22).

(7) Why don’t you spend a year working before you go to

college? Take a year off from your studies and learn something

about the real world.

(8) Go along here and turn left at the lights.

(9) Yeah… go on then

(10) Have a nice holiday.

(11) Come to have lunch with us!

(12) Look out! There’s a car coming.

According to Murcia and Freeman (1999, p.228) and Drowning

and Locke (1995, p.192), the most striking feature of an

imperative clause is that it requires no overt Subject in English

Imperatives 6

(i.e. no obvious subject noun phrase). The fundamental form of

imperatives is composed only of verbs with base form. Traditional

grammarians have referred to the underlying subject of imperative

sentences as the “understood you.” In other words, the subject of

an unmarked form of an imperative is the second person singular

or plural subject pronoun, you. In both English and Vietnamese,

whenever meeting such imperatives without a subject as (13) “Be

quiet!” or (14) “Im lặng đi!”; (15) “Don’t do that again!” or

(16) “Đừng làm vậy nữa!”, we are all aware of the fact that the

speaker (first person) is addressing the listener (second

person). That means, although there is no subject in the

imperative sentence, both the speaker and the listener still

understand who is the subject mentioned.

Imperatives usually do not call the person’s name, but

sometimes her name is placed at the beginning or at the end of

the sentence. This applies to not only English but also

Vietnamese imperatives.

E.g.

(17) Finish your food, Liz! - (18) Ăn cho xong đi, Liz!

(19) Jimmy, catch the ball! (20) Jimmy, bắt bóng nè!

Imperatives 7

Comparison and contrast between English and Vietnamese

Imperatives

A few special terms used in imperative sentences

Special terms used in affirmative imperatives

According to Thomson and Martinet (1986, p.245), and

Eastwood (1994, p.19), in English, DO can be used in an

imperative for emphasis. When put before the verb in an

imperative sentence, this DO could be persuasive, but could also

express irritation.

E.g.

(21) Do hurry!

(22) Do be careful!

In English imperatives, LET can also be found

(23) Let us stand together in this emergency!

(24) Let us not be alarmed by rumors

(25) Let me think. Where did I put the letter?

(26) Let the voters choose the government they want. Let

them decide

By LET US (LET’S) as in (23) and (24), the speaker can urge

his hearers to act in a certain way, or express a decision which

Imperatives 8

they are expected to accept, or express a suggestion (Thomson &

Martinet, 1986, p.245). Some traditional grammarians say that the

structure with LET US is a form of inclusive imperative. Its

typical use is to suggest or urge a collaborative action that

includes both speaker and addressee(s) (Murcia & Freeman, 1999,

p.194).

LET ME in (25) means that the speaker is telling herself

what to do (Eastwood, 1994, p.23).

LET THEM which appears in (26) is aimed at the third person.

This is not a very common construction in modern English. It

would be more usual to say “They are to decide.” (Thomson &

Martinet, 1986, p.245)

In Vietnamese, according to linguistics such as Cao Xuan

Hao, Hoang Xuan Tam, etc., empty words “HÃY” or “ĐI” can be used

to express a command.

E.g.

(27) Hãy nhanh lên đi!

(28) Hãy cẩn thận

Imperatives 9

The colloquial empty word “HÃY” also has a phonetic variant,

“HẴNG”, as in (29) “Hẵng gượm!”, ( 30) “Hẵng từ từ” (Nguyen Kim

Than, 1999, p.226).

“HÃY” can support many verbs at the same time: (31) “Hãy

đoàn kết lại, thống nhất hành động!”

Based on popular grammar principles of Vietnamese, “HÃY” is

put right before verbs as in the above examples. However, in

modern Vietnamese, the main verb can be separated from “HÃY” by

an adjunct. E.g. (32) “Hãy dũng cảm tiến lên!”

These days, in modern Vietnamese, the empty word “HÃY” is

still be found in commands or requests. Nevertheless, discussing

this matter, Le Van Ly remarks that “HÃY” put before the verb

helps form an order. This way is to express an encouragement with

a calm voice or it is used in a petition with a sense of

formality and aristocracy; this is not commonly found in daily

life. Using too many “HÃY” in speech signals an extent of

affected manners. Also, Professor Nguyen Kim Than (1999, p.226)

agrees that recently “HÃY” is giving way to the empty word “ĐI”.

“ĐI” represents an order.

E.g

Imperatives 10

(33) Uống đi!

(34) Đi đi thôi!

In one of his books - Ngu phap Tieng Viet, Diep Quang Ban

(2005, p. 227) suggests that besides the empty word “ĐI”, there

are some other special terms like “NÀO”, “THÔI”, “ĐI THÔI”, “ĐI

NÀO”, which are placed after the content of the order so as to

modify the imperative, making it more extreme or more informal.

They are widely used in colloquial Vietnamese.

E.g.

(35) Em đi đi!

(36)Em đi đi thôi

(37) Em đi đi nào!

(38) Ta đi thôi!

(39) Ta đi nào!

(40) Ta đi đi nào !

The appearance of “ĐI”, “NÀO”, “THÔI”, “ĐI THÔI”, or “ĐI

NÀO” seems to add various shadings to imperatives, increasing or

decreasing the intensity depending on the contexts. They offer a

sense of friendliness and solidarity. Instead of (41) “Đi!” we

can soften abruption of the command by adding “ĐI NÀO” - (42) “Đi

Imperatives 11

đi nào”. Or in case we want to order someone to leave a place

right away without delay, we can add “ĐI”: (43) “Đi đi!”

Special terms in negative imperatives

We have just clarified some special terms with an

affirmative meaning in English as well as in Vietnamese. In this

section, we are analyzing the construction of imperative with

“DON’T” in English and those with “ĐỪNG”, “CHỚ”, “KHÔNG”, “KHÔNG

ĐƯỢC” in Vietnamese.

In English, the form of imperative sentences implying a

negative is often seen as in the followings

(44) Don’t be silly!

(45) Don’t tell her anything!

So, in English, the negative form of any imperatives can be

presented through the formula: DON’T + bare infinitives. As

Eastwood (1999, p.120), (1994, p.21); Thomson and Martinet (1986,

p.245) demonstrate, “DON’T” is the signal that helps us recognize

the negative implication in an imperative.

It seems that Vietnamese has more diverse ways to construct

a negative imperative sentence. Empty words such as “ĐỪNG”,

“CHỚ”, “KHÔNG”, and “KHÔNG ĐƯỢC” in Vietnamese express the same

Imperatives 12

idea as “DON’T” in English. In Vietnamese imperative sentences,

according to Diep Quang Ban (2005, p.227), when “ĐỪNG”, “CHỚ”,

“KHÔNG”, and “KHÔNG ĐƯỢC” stand before the content of the order,

the meaning is a negative (i.e. the speaker requests the

addressee(s) not to do something).

E.g

(46) Đừng quên chuẩn bị bài trước khi đến lớp!

(47) Chớ bảo xuân tàn hoa rụng hết!

Đêm qua sân trước một cành mai (Mãn Giác Thiền Sư)

(48) Không được đi trễ!

According to the same author, “HÃY” does not appear before

negative words such as “KHÔNG”, “CHẲNG”, and “CHƯA” in negative

imperatives. Otherwise the idea will contradict itself, causing

confusion and misunderstanding, for “HÃY” asserts an affirmative.

What’s more, “ĐỪNG” and “CHỚ” which refer to a negative do not

stand before negative words as “KHÔNG”, “CHẲNG”, and “CHƯA” so as

to avoid the irrelevance of words or the phenomenon of double

negative.

Special terms to add more expressive and emotional aspects (respect,

friendliness, love, etc.)

Imperatives 13

In English, there is only one second person subject pronoun

– that is YOU. Thomson and Martinet and Eastwood, etc., point out

that the pronoun YOU is rarely used unless the speaker wishes to

be rude, or wishes to make a distinction, as in:

(49) You go on; I’ll wait.

(50) You shut up!

YOU in an imperative sentence contributes to the effect of

surprise and the sense of anger or offense.

As a result, in order to display our respect for the

interlocutor as well as friendliness, we have to use structures

with modal verbs, for example, “CAN”, “COULD” or “MUST”, as in

the followings

(51) Can you go on? / You must go on.

(52) Could you keep quiet for a while?

In warnings, reminders and good wishes, the tag question

“WON’T YOU?” after a positive imperative and “WILL YOU?” after a

negative (Eastwood, 1997, p.22) or the structure To be + Bare

infinitive are commonly used.

(53) Don’t forget your key, will you?

(54) Have a nice holiday, won’t you?

Imperatives 14

(55) You are to stand here. Understand?

In contrast, in Vietnamese, there are a great number of

pronouns to refer the second person, for example, “bố”, “mẹ”,

“anh”, “chị”, “em”, “cháu”, “bạn”, etc. Each pronoun is used for

a particular person in a particular situation. What to use for

whom is varying depending on the context of speaking and writing.

Thus, Diep Quang Ban (2005, p.228) states that in order to show

our respect, imperatives are accompanied by some appropriate

emotional elements such as “XIN”, “CHO”, “Ạ”, etc. E.g. (56) “Xin

ông hãy chờ một lát”, (57) “Ông hãy chờ cho một lát ạ”, (58) “Ông

hãy chờ một lát”. He also highlights that with the purpose of

adding more emotional shadings to an imperative, it is advisable

that we choose a suitable word to be the subject of the sentence.

For example, when “anh” or “em” functions as the subject, kinship

and fellowship are presented clearly. On the other hand, “mày”

and “tao” imply the sense of informality or impoliteness.

E.g.

(59) Anh hãy ngồi xuống đây!

(60) Em đi nhanh đi!

Imperatives 15

Furthermore, in English, “PLEASE” is used in the same way as

“XIN VUI LÒNG” or “VUI LÒNG” in Vietnamese. These make the

imperative more formal and polite, filling the gap between the

speaker and the listener; then, the order becomes more gentle and

polite.

E.g.

(61) Open your book, please!

(62) Close your eyes, please!

Other ways of expressing commands

As discussed above, modal verbs (CAN, COULD) can be used to

make an imperative sentence in English with the sense of respect

and courtesy as in (51) and (52).

Also, tag questions are used to express worry and

irritation, as in (63) “Keep still, can’t you?” or to give a

warning, as in (64) “Don’t forget your key, will you?”

Besides, according to Thomson and Martinet (1986, p.246),

the structure “Subject + SHALL + Bare infinitive” presents an

order. “SHALL” is employed in very formal written regulations

which will normally remain in force for some time. These are very

Imperatives 16

often in the passive. E.g. (65) The Chairman, Secretary, and

Treasurer shall be elected annually. (Club regulation)

The same authors suggest that imperatives can be in the form

of “Subject +WILL + Bare infinitive”, as in (66) “When the alarm

rings, passengers and crew will assemble at their boat stations.

(Notice on board ship). This is a formal, impersonal, peremptory

type of command, implying that the person giving the order is

quite certain that he will be obeyed. It is used chiefly in

written instructions by people who have some authority.

Moreover, commands can exist in form of “Subject + MAY NOT

+Bare infinitive” to express a prohibition, as in (67)

“Candidates may not bring textbooks into the examination room.”

Or “Be + Bare infinitive” for instructions, orders or commands.

(68) “You are to finish the report today.’

In Ngu phap Tieng Viet, Diep Quang Ban (2005, p.229) points

out that other popular ways to make a command include verbs

accompanied by modals such as “CẦN”, “NÊN” and “PHẢI”, adverbs

such as “CỨ”, and other words such as “HỘ”, “GIÙM”, “GIÚP”

E.g.

(69) Anh cần nghỉ một thời gian

Imperatives 17

(70) Anh cứ ngồi đây

(71) Anh đưa hộ /dùm/giúp tôi cái mũ đằng kia

Apart from the words above, a few verbs themselves convey

the act of requesting, for example, “XIN”, “MONG”, “ĐỀ NGHỊ”,

“YÊU CẦU”, “RA LỆNH”, “CẦN”, “MỜI”, “KHUYÊN”, etc. This category

of verbs is called performative verbs and they can be used to

make a command. The subject of these sentences is the speaker.

E.g.

(72) [Chúng tôi] mong các bạn sẽ đến dự cuộc vui với chúng

tôi.

Intonation in imperatives

Intonation is another interesting part that needs covering

in this paper. In Vietnamese, the intonation pattern of

imperatives varies with the psychological state of the speaker,

but generally, rising intonation at the end and stress on word

that carry the content of the order (Diep Quang Ban, 2005,

p.228).

(41) Đi!

(73) Đọc to lên!

Imperatives 18

Meanwhile, English linguists such as Feigenbaum, Eastwood,

Thomson and Martinet, Leech and Svartvik, the usual intonation of

a command in English is falling intonation, which means lowering

your voice at the end of the sentence.

(74) Be on time for the test!

(75) Sit down, will you?

(76) You put it down.

Discussion

Similarities between English and Vietnamese imperatives

Vietnamese, English, together with other languages all over

the world are all effective means of interaction and

communication. However, in different languages, the act of

requesting is presented differently; that is not to say that

English and Vietnamese belong to two different language families.

In fact, after the analysis above, a few similarities can be

withdrawn.

Firstly, both English and Vietnamese use special terms to

express an order, words such as “DO”, “LET”, “DON’T” in English

and “HÃY”, “ĐI”, “ĐỪNG”, “CHỚ”, “KHÔNG ĐƯỢC”, etc. in Vietnamese.

It is easy to find an imperative sentence in English that is

Imperatives 19

quite equivalent to one in Vietnamese in meaning as well as

construction. Let’s observe some examples

(77) Đừng làm phiền tôi nữa! – (78) Don’t bother me anymore!

(79) Hãy để mình giảng lại cho bạn! – (80) Let me explain it

again!

(81) Hãy im đi! – (82) Do be quiet!

(77), (79), and (81) respectively have their English version

(78), (80), (82). They are totally similar in semantic meaning

and grammatical structure. And they share intonation pattern to

some extent.

Secondly, English and Vietnamese both take advantage of

empty words to make imperative more gentle and polite. This can

be observed in conversational language of Vietnamese in everyday

life; to be specific, in the way people use the phrase “VUI LÒNG”

when giving an order or making an offer. Here, “VUI LÒNG” is

almost synonymous with “PLEASE” in English imperatives.

(83) Please give me a glass of water! – (84) Vui lòng lấy hộ

tôi cốc nước!

(85) Let me be alone! – (86) Hãy để tôi một mình!

Differences between English and Vietnamese imperatives

Imperatives 20

While English and Vietnamese imperatives share very few

similarities, there are numerous differences to be found. These

differences, themselves become the barrier to Vietnamese learners

who study English as a second language. Here are some typical

differences.

Firstly, in the fundamental constructions of English and

Vietnamese imperatives, the subject is omitted; imperative

sentences merely consist of verbs. However, in Vietnamese,

pronouns, proper nouns or common nouns can be used freely in

commands. The appearance of pronouns, proper nouns and common

nouns simply helps add emotive factors to the orders. In

contrast, the pronoun YOU in English imperatives will make them

more extreme and offensive, enlarging the distance between the

speaker and the listener. Also, there are indefinite nouns such

as “SOMEBODY”, “ANYONE”, etc. which are for emphasizing or

drawing attention.

(86) Anh hãy ngồi xuống đây. (This request expresses

informality and friendliness)

(87) You sit down here! (This request expresses annoyance,

rudeness, and disrespect of the speaker toward the listener)

Imperatives 21

(88) Ai đó giúp tôi đi!

(89) Somebody help me!

(90) Jane hãy ở đây còn Bill thì hãy đi theo tôi!

(91) Jane stay here and Bill follow me!

Secondly, in English, people use some special structures to

express commands

E.g.

– Tag question: (64) Keep still, can’t you?

– Subject + SHALL + Bare infinitive: (65) The Chairman,

Secretary and Treasurer shall be elected annually

– Subject + WILL + Bare infinitive: (66) When the alarm

rings, passengers and crew will assemble at their boat

station.

– Subject + MAY NOT + Bare infinitive: (67) Candidates

may not bring textbooks into the examination room.

In Vietnamese, the constructions above are not used for

requests, orders, and instructions. Instead, people use special

terms such as “HÃY”, “ĐI”, “KHÔNG ĐƯỢC” or modals verbs such as

“PHẢI” and “CỨ”.

(92) Anh cứ tiếp tục uống thuốc như vậy!

Imperatives 22

(93) Phải / Hãy bầu ra Chủ tịch, Thứ ký và Thủ quỹ mới mỗi

năm!

(94) Hành khách hảy / phải tập trung tại bến tàu khi có còi

báo động!

(95) Thí sinh không được mang tài liệu vào phòng thi!

Thirdly, in Vietnamese, we can use some performative verb

such as “XIN”, “MONG”, “ĐỀ NGHỊ”, “YÊU CẦU”, “CẤM”, “MỜI”,

“KHUYÊN”, etc. to make an imperative sentence.

E.g.

(72) Mong các bạn đến dự cuộc vui với chúng tôi!

(96) Xin các bạn vui lòng đến đúng giờ!

On the contrary, in English, we can not put performative

verbs such as “ASK”, “WISH”, “SUGGEST”, “REQUEST”, “INVITE”,

“ADVISE”, etc. at the begging of a sentence to make a request.

Some Implications for English Teaching and Learning

Due to many differences between two languages in the

structures of imperatives, Murcia and Freeman (1999, p.235)

emphasize that learning the form, meaning, and the use of the

imperative mood is challenging for ESL/EFL students. Except for

negative imperatives, form is perhaps less challenging because

Imperatives 23

students need not concern themselves about typical verb

morphological problems such as tense and subject-verb agreement.

Nevertheless, the subtle distinctions among English imperatives

require that students receive practice in using their forms

appropriately. Giving students help with understanding commands

might be important as well. Considering the variety of forms that

are used to give a command, it is not surprising that nonnative

speakers struggle to understand them. English teachers must grasp

these interlingual difficulties, sympathizing with their students

so that they can help Vietnamese students make progress in

English learning

Firstly, at the risk of redundancy, teachers are supposed to

help students acknowledge the form and the functional link

between imperatives and directives. One utterance can be a

command or a request without being in the form of an imperative.

Also, various functions of imperatives in addition to commands

must be made clear to students, for example, offers, suggestions,

requests, advice, directions, prohibitions, warnings, procedures,

invitations, threats and wishes, depending on the context.

Imperatives 24

Secondly, teachers should draw students’ attention to the

aspect of politeness and rudeness of imperatives so that they

will not make mistakes in communication as well as translation

due to negative transfer. Then, students can deal with people

appropriately when the situation calls for it, achieving language

competence.

Thirdly, the task of learning imperatives can be made more

fun and less stressful by using games, role-play. A simple game

like “Simon says” is typically exploited to practice the form of

imperatives. For role-play, students can be given some situations

in which they have to make a request or an offer. Their partners

are asked to accept only when the content of the request or the

offer is reasonable and the structure of the sentence together

with the speaker’s intonation is appropriate for the context.

Otherwise, they will refuse. Thanks to the activity, students

practice the forms, meaning and intonation of imperatives as well

as practice how to respond appropriately. Then they relate the

English imperatives used in these situations to Vietnamese ones

used in similar situations in real life, discovering the

similarities and differences between imperatives in English and

Imperatives 25

Vietnamese in terms of forms and usages. As a result, confusion

between two languages and negative transfer are avoided later on

when they actually speak or write in English in real life.

Conclusion

In conclusion, imperatives are crucial for communication and

interaction in any languages. A contrastive analysis in this

field concerning Vietnamese and English is important and useful

since it has many implications in language teaching and learning,

making the acquisition of a second language much comfortable and

easy. The advantages of using the knowledge of corresponding

features of the two languages are found in learning a foreign

language and in reinforcing a mother tongue at the same time.

Because of the limitation of time and knowledge, this paper has

explored some very basic points in comparing and contrasting

Vietnamese and English imperatives. However, I do hope that

through my paper, teachers and students of English have some

ideas on how necessary and beneficial the awareness of the inter-

relation of English and Vietnamese over the matter of

imperatives. I may also suggest that this paper offer an

interesting topic for further research and that deeper layers of

Imperatives 26

the structures and meaning of imperatives be explored and

discussed thoroughly.

Imperatives 27

References

Cao, X.H. (1991). Tieng Viet – So thao Ngu phap Chuc nang. Hanoi: NXB

Giao duc.

Cao, X.H. (1999). Tieng Viet – May Van de Ngu am, Ngu phap, Ngu nghia.

Hanoi: NXB Giao duc.

Cao, X.H., Hoang, X.T., Nguyen, V.B., & Bui, T.T. (1998). Ngu

phap Chuc nang Tieng Viet – Cau trong Tieng viet. Hanoi: NXB Giao duc.

Murcia, C., & Freeman, L. (1999). The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher’s

Course. New York: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Diep, Q.B. (2005). Ngu phap Tieng Viet. Hanoi: NXB Giao duc.

Downing, A., Locke, P. (1995). A University Course in English Grammar.

New York: Routledge.

Eastwood, J. (1997). Oxford Guide to English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Eastwood, J. (1999). Oxford Practice Grammar. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Nguyen, K.T. (1999. Dong tu trong Tieng Viet. Hanoi: NXB Khoa hoc Xa

hoi.

Thomson, A.J., & Martinet. A.V. (1986) A Practical English Grammar.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.