đang

See also: Appendix:Variations of "dang"

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 當, common reading of đương. Unrelated to Malay sedang.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɗaːŋ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɗaːŋ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʔɗaːŋ˧˧]

Particle

đang

1. marks the continuous, imperfect aspect of an action or state

   Đã làm xong chưa.
   Đang làm.

   Have you done yet?
   Still working on it.

   Tao nhớ lúc đó nó đang chơi ngoài sân.

   I think she was playing in the yard.

   Đang bận. Không có thì giờ đâu mà đi chơi.

   I'm busy right now. I don't have time to go out.

Usage notes

• Unlike đã, the perfective marker, and sẽ, the future marker, đang is common in colloquial Vietnamese, as are mới and sắp, the near past and near future marker respectively.
• In English, the imperfect aspect is only used on action verbs. If it is used on stative verbs, it turns such "states" into actions with implied affectation. There is no such distinction with đang, thus đang bận (“I'm busy”) in Vietnamese means genuine busyness, not affected busyness as in I'm being busy in English.