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cảm ơn

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: ĉamon and cám ơn

Vietnamese

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Vietnamese phrasebook
This entry is part of the phrasebook project, which presents criteria for inclusion based on utility, simplicity and commonness.

Etymology

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Analogical remodeling of cám ơn, nativized form of Chinese 感恩 (modern SV: cảm ân), by replacing the first syllable under the influence of cảm ân, a learned form derived by reinterpreting the Chinese characters according to their regular Sino-Vietnamese readings.

In 1967, Từ điển tiếng Việt by Văn Tân published in North Vietnam was the first dictionary to record cảm ơn, much later than the form cám ơn attested in old dictionaries since the 17th century.

In 1992, cảm ơn was adopted as the standard form in Từ điển tiếng Việt, compiled by the Viện Ngôn ngữ học in Hanoi under the editorship of Professor Hoàng Phê. Nevertheless, cám ơn remains the predominant spoken form, especially among speakers of Central and Southern dialects, if not nationwide, as well as the predominant written form among Overseas Vietnamese communities.

See the entry cám ơn for more.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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cảm ơn • (感恩, 敢恩)

  1. (originally Northern Vietnam, now prescriptive) alternative form of cám ơn (“thank you”)
    • [2012, Joe Ruelle, “Chuyện tôi, Mỹ Tâm và nước mắm Phú Quốc [The Story about Me, Mỹ Tâm and Phú Quốc Fish Sauce]”, in Ngược chiều vun vút [Whooshing toward the Other Way]‎[1]:
      Anh vẫn nhớ lần đầu tiên lên sân khấu tặng hoa cho em. Em cười duyên, nói “cảm ơn”. Ôi, lúc đó em không thể hiểu anh xúc động như thế nào! Anh xem tất cả các clip phỏng vấn của em trên truyền hình, xem đi xem lại, và anh thấy em luôn chỉ nói “cám ơn” – tức chữ “cám” có dấu sắc. Nhưng chắc chắn, một trăm phần trăm, lúc mình gặp nhau trên sân khấu ngày hôm đó em đã nói “cảm ơn” với anh, chữ “cảm” có dấu hỏi. […] Điều em muốn nói (nhưng không thể nói được trước đám đông) là em cảm thấy đặc biệt ấn tượng với anh, rất muốn biết thêm về anh, muốn “hỏi” anh rất nhiều chuyện.
      I still remember the first time I went onstage and gave you flowers. You smiled elegantly, and you said “cảm ơn”. Oh, you wouldn’t have known how touched I was then! I’d watched all of your interviews on TV, all over and over again, and I’d noticed you’d always said “cám ơn” – the “cám” with the sắc tone. But I’m one hundred percent sure that, at the moment we met onstage that day, you said “cảm ơn” to me, with the “cảm” with the hỏi tone. […] What you wanted to profess (but couldn’t in front of the whole crowd) was that you felt especially impressed by me, that you wanted to know a lot more about me, that you wanted to “hỏi” (ask) me about a lot of things.]

Usage notes

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  • Similar to chào and chúc, a subject is not needed, if you're the one who's doing the thanking. Even young children can get away without a subject.
  • Unlike chào and chúc, only compatible with xin, not kính. Thus, xin cảm ơn, not *kính cảm ơn.
  • The difference between cám ơn and cảm ơn is not all clear-cut, and it's largely based on personal preference or gut feelings. Some may insist that cám ơn is more colloquial, others may insist cảm ơn is somehow more "correct", others still may insist that the former feels more southern and the latter more northern.
  • In quick speech, the tone of cảm may be weakly enunciated and the glottal stop of ơn may be dropped, yielding [kaməːn] with a shorter hỏi tone.

References

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