Mình - Self
Updated: Oct 8, 2020
Mình means "self" in Vietnamese, in a nutshell. Listen to how it is pronounced below.
Mình can be translated into many things, but to understand it fundamentally, you should remember its basic literal meaning, which is "self" or "body". Let's dive into some of the uses of mình. First, it is most commonly used as the pronoun "I/me", and sometimes as "we/us", depending on the context. Let's look at some examples.
Note: You can highlight the Vietnamese text to listen to it. Mình không thích ăn sầu riêng. (I don't like eating durian.) Đây là cái nón của mình. (This is my hat. [lit. This is hat of me.]) Đừng chạy theo mình nữa! (Don't run after me anymore!) Bạn ăn chưa? Mình chưa ăn. (Did you eat? I didn't eat yet.) Bạn ăn chưa? Mình ăn chung nha! (Did you eat? Let's eat! [lit. We eat together ok!]) Họ mời hai đứa mình đi ăn. (They invite the two of us to eat.)
Mình is also commonly used to as a humble first-person pronoun "I". It sounds quite friendly and polite when you use it. Mình can also be used to express "one's self" or "one's own". Kind of like when you use reflexive verbs. Let's look at some examples.
Note: You can highlight the Vietnamese text to listen to it. Tôi đang đánh răng mình. (I am brushing my own teeth. / I am brushing teeth myself.) Mẹ: Con hãy chải đầu cho mình đi. (Mom: You should comb hair yourself. / You should comb your own hair.) Cô ấy đang ăn tô phở mình. (She is eating a pho bowl herself. / She is eating her own pho bowl.)
On the same note, can go add một before mình to express "by one's self" or "alone". Here are some examples.
Note: You can highlight the Vietnamese text to listen to it. Mình đang chơi game một mình. (I am playing the game by myself. / I am playing the same alone.) Anh ấy đang ăn một mình. (He is eating by himself. / He is eating alone.) Tôi không muốn ở một mình. (I don't want to be by myself. / I don't want to be alone.)
Strangely enough, mình can also be used to express the pronoun "you" in some cases. Bare with me. You know in English, especially when you write, you would use "you", right?
Consider this sentence: "You should really learn personal finance because it's good for you." Well, in that quoted sentence, you can replace "you" with "we" and it would mean the same thing. THIS is exactly the scenario where Vietnamese would use mình as a "you".
I tried to cover as many common expressions of mình as I could but I feel like there might be more. Let me know in the comment below what other scenarios where you see or use mình. And as always, keep practicing!