Conjunctions are the glue that holds your sentences together.

In Vietnamese, these connecting words are called liên từ.

You need them to connect individual words, short phrases, and entire clauses.

Without conjunctions, you’ll only be able to speak in short, robotic sentences.

Learning these words allows you to express complex thoughts clearly and naturally.

In this guide, I’ll show you the most essential conjunctions in the Vietnamese language.

Coordinating conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions join two equal parts of a sentence.

You’ll use these to connect nouns, verbs, or two independent clauses.

Here’s a quick summary table of the most common ones.

The word và translates directly to “and” in English.

It’s used to combine similar ideas or items in a list.

To present a choice between two things, you can use hoặc or hay.

Both words mean “or”, but hay is much more commonly used in questions.

The word nhưng means “but” in English.

You’ll use it to introduce a contrast or an exception to your previous statement.

Subordinating conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions connect an independent clause to a dependent clause.

These words provide background information like a reason, a condition, or a time frame.

Here are the most common subordinating conjunctions you’ll encounter.

You can use vì or bởi vì to explain the reason for an action.

Both words mean “because” and can be used interchangeably in daily conversation.

The word nếu translates to “if”.

You must use this word whenever you want to introduce a condition.

To connect an action to a specific time, use the word khi.

This word translates directly to “when” in English.

You can use mặc dù or tuy to show an unexpected result.

These words mean “although” or “even though”.

Correlative conjunctions (word pairs)

Vietnamese grammar relies heavily on paired conjunctions.

When you use a certain subordinating conjunction, you almost always need a matching word in the second clause.

This structure feels very redundant to native English speakers.

For example, in English, you’d simply say “Because it rained, I stayed home.”

In Vietnamese, you must literally say “Because it rained, so I stayed home.”

Here are the most essential conjunction pairs you need to memorize.

The vì… nên… structure is required when placing the “because” clause at the beginning of a sentence.

You state the reason first, followed by nên (so), and then the result.

The nếu… thì… structure is the standard way to form conditional sentences.

You must place thì (then) right before the outcome of your condition.

The tuy… nhưng… structure trips up many foreign learners.

You have to include nhưng (but) in the second half of the sentence, even though it translates awkwardly to “Although… but…” in English.

The không những… mà còn… structure is used to add emphasis.

It works exactly like the “not only… but also…” pattern in English.

Once you master these pairings, your spoken Vietnamese will sound significantly more natural.

It takes a little bit of practice to remember the second word in the pair.

You’ll quickly get used to this rhythm if you listen to native speakers frequently.