Question to Vietnamese speakers/ppl with knowledge

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This is off topic in food, but I had a general question.

I’ve noticed that quite a few Vietnamese people, including ones that I know personnally and ones that I follow on social media tend to omit past tense from their English. I have asked some of my Vietnamese friends (who tend to not use past tense) but have been met with non-explanations.

Is there a general reason for this or something cultural/linguistic? I’ve heard that Vietnamese like Chinese doesn’t have tenses. Any insight would be appreciated.

@hppzz @attran99

2

I am definitely not a good person for this question. Only learned vietnamese in Sunday school in America and in general, i’m horrible at grammar.

Maybe this might be helpful Article

If I were to ask my parents how long have they lived in America, they would both say “I live here 39 year” which translates: toi song o my 39 nam. in Vietnamese it’s perfect grammatically—but translated directly into English, it sounds broken lacking appropriate tense

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I’m out, too. I’m generally illiterate unless we’re looking at menus. I only made it through a couple of months of Vietnamese school in my youth…young enough to not appreciate it but old enough to weasel my way out of it. A mistake I regret.

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Thanks appreciate the responses!

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Do you have an example?

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Here’s two examples from people I follow on Instagram (that happen to be Vietnamese):

“We arrive in Rome.”

“You were the best dog anyone can ask for.”