Nhau - together, each other / one another

Nhau means "together", "each other / one another" in Vietnamese. Such a magic word! Listen to how it is pronounced. (It kind of sounds like a cat meowing.. doesn't it? lol)

Nhau is one of those words that English does not have. At least not identical anyway. In general, nhau is used when 2 (or more) entities interact with each other in a reciprocal manner. In order to show you what I mean in English, I will try to break it up into 2 possible meanings.

First, nhau can be used to mean "together". In this way, it can sometimes be accompanied by cùng, which also means "together". Let's look at some examples.

Note: You can highlight the Vietnamese text to listen to it. Họ đang ăn với nhau. / Họ đang cùng ăn với nhau. (They are eating together.) Chúng ta hãy cùng nhau xây dựng một không gian lành mạnh. (We should build a positive space together.) Đặt hai bàn tay vào nhau đi. (Put your hands together.)

Second, nhau can be used to mean "each other, one another". In this meaning, nhau is often accompanied by a transitive verb or a comparative adjective. Let's look at some examples.

Note: You can highlight the Vietnamese text to listen to it. Hai cái áo này khác nhau mà giá thì giống nhau. (These two shirts are different from each other, but the price is the same [with one another].) Bố mẹ của mình rất thương yêu nhau. (Our parents love each other a lot.) Anh em thì phải giúp đỡ nhau. (As brothers, you should help each other.) Những sợi chỉ đan nhau thành một miếng vải. (The threads weaves one another into a piece of cloth.) Hai con đường đi song song với nhau. (The two paths go parallel to one another.)

Now that you know what it means, you can understand more when Vietnamese native speakers use them. Make sure to incorporate them into your expressions, too. Let me know if you have any questions and keeeeeep practicing!

#nhau #cung #together #oneanother #eachother #reciprocality #reciprocal