# Vietnamese: thương



## JapanForever

Hi there,
What's "Rất thương" meaning in vietnamese ? I looked for "thuong" on the net, and I saw that's meaning "to love" but I also saw that "Rất" means "very". So, in this sentence, that's mean "very love" but it sounds weird. 
Thank you very much


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## newname

Hi,

'Thuong' means 'love', BUT when goes with 'rat', the meaning can change considerably, sometimes it means something else. Because 'thuong' is both a verb and an adjective.
1.'rat thuong' means 'love very much'. (for example, Toi rat thuong em.)
2. 'rat thuong' means 'so miserable'. (Co be nhin rat thuong.)
3. 'thuong' means 'cute'. (Co be nhin rat thuong nha)

Cheers.


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## JapanForever

Ok, thanks. So, when it says, for example "rat thuong con gai" that's meaning "love very much his daughter ?"


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## newname

Exactly.
He loves his daughter very much = Ong ay rat thuong con gai minh. (I want to avoid any ambiguity.)


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## JapanForever

Thanks you, newname, but I wonder: can we use "thuong" when we talk about lovers ? According to your last reply, it can be an ambiguity when we use "thuong" in a sentence.


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## interboy9x

Yep! We can use "thương" in order to talk about lovers, but it doesn't sound as naturally as "yêu". And because "yêu" is more common in Vietnamese, I think.


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## JapanForever

Ok. Thanks you very much


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## yennhien

*~ newname* : To be honest, I've never heard of sentence "Cô bé nhìn rất thương." (or "Cô bé nhìn rất thương nha.") in my life as a Vietnamese, I've only heard : "Cô bé nhìn rất _đáng_ thương." (or "Cô bé nhìn rất _dễ_ thương."). Following to LacViet 2009, "Thương" is a noun or a verb, not an adjective. I searched your sentence on Google but I couldn't find it anywhere, can you explain me why it is like that ? Or is this just your mistake ?

Edit : Ah, I've just remembered, your sentences are just shorten ways of daily talking. It's my bad (memories). :"> Anyway, those really confused me with ambiguity.


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## Trinh

JapanForever said:


> Hi there,
> What's "Rất thương" meaning in vietnamese ? I looked for "thuong" on the net, and I saw that's meaning "to love" but I also saw that "Rất" means "very". So, in this sentence, that's mean "very love" but it sounds weird.
> Thank you very much


actually, Thương is mean more than just love, it is the different level of love. when somebody use that word they mean they love you and care for you wish the best for you or sometimes feel for you. My opinion is Thương is the love express word which has higher meaning of love. Therefore, i dont hing it is really exist in english to translate it into english completely correct, but anyways it basically mean i love you very much.


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## Arsudar

A pretty big problems for people who learn Vietnamese, a Vietnamese word but in different situations it has a whole different meaning. Like the word "thương" as many people pointed out, basically it can mean "love", "like" (we can say it's a lower lever of love), "cute" (appearance), "looks poor" (like "she looks poor, wonder what happened to her?"). 
So sadly I have to say there's almost no definitive meaning in Vietnamese, we have to consider the situation as a whole to interpret the meaning.


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## JapanForever

I see. Though rat thuong con gai is love in this case?


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## narutokage

cute + fond + adore / 3 = thương (verb)


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## hoangthiennam

"thương" = love ( Means the parents love their children)
But some cases also count as love.
Here, "Rất thương" = very love. But level higher and stronger than the "thương"
It signifies someone who loves someone, (between parents and children, between you and me, between friends ....)

"Vietnamese grammar is harder than storm"


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## duydoan

For anyone who can read Vietnamese, this is a Vietnamese article in which 'thương' và 'yêu' are elucidated quite clearly in order to point out some differences between these two words: Thương và yêu.

For those who cannot read Vietnamese, the abovementioned article can be summed up as this: 'thương' is more encompassing, more sublime, more profound than 'yêu'. Compared with English, 'love' as 'yêu', and 'thương' can be translated as 'passion' which is a forceful word for emotions and which also means 'love' in a higher level bearing some implied shade of suffering (just as indicated in the etymology of 'passion' and in its original usage in Christianity).


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## rdw3

So my understanding is that "thương" is a deeper, committed, enduring type of love ( thinking southern VN) than "yeu" when used in a couples context.  Imparting the lifelong family type of love.

And do you use the same sentence form as Anh yeu em / Em yeu anh?  Or is Toi more appropriate?  I've had Vietnamese friends give me both examples.


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## winds2clouds

rdw3 said:


> So my understanding is that "thương" is a deeper, committed, enduring type of love ( thinking southern VN) than "yeu" when used in a couples context.  Imparting the lifelong family type of love.
> 
> And do you use the same sentence form as Anh yeu em / Em yeu anh?  Or is Toi more appropriate?  I've had Vietnamese friends give me both examples.


Yes. You can say “Anh rất thương em”, “Em rất thương anh”, “Tôi rất thương bạn”, and so on instead of “Anh yêu em” etc., but the meaning is slightly different. When you use “thương”, it can possibly mean that the person you are talking to normally has some miserable problems. You want to protect her/him from negative impacts in life or something. So if you want to use “thương” in the way to emphasize that you really love someone, you should say “Anh yêu em nhiều lắm”.


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