nọ

That One Yonder

Level 6

Nọ is a demonstrative that historically meant 'that yonder,' but in modern Vietnamese, it is almost exclusively used to refer to an indefinite time in the past or to contrast unspecified things.

How It Works

At an advanced level, it is important to understand the shift in how nọ functions in modern Vietnamese compared to traditional grammar rules.

1. The Narrative Past & Indefinite Reference: In literary contexts, phrases like ngày nọ (one day) or thuở nọ (in that era) act as past-time reference phrases. Furthermore, nọ is widely used as an indefinite narrative reference to introduce people or places, such as ông nọ (a certain man), bà nọ (a certain woman), or ngôi làng nọ (a certain village).

2. Everyday Collocations & Productive Patterns: While highly literary in storytelling, nọ survives in everyday speech in specific time phrases like hôm nọ (the other day / an indefinite few days ago). It is crucial to distinguish this from hôm kia, which refers to a specific relative time (exactly two days ago / the day before yesterday). Furthermore, nọ is frequently paired with kia in fixed time expressions like ngày kia ngày nọ or năm kia năm nọ. Additionally, the structure [Noun] này [Noun] nọ is a highly productive grammatical pattern used to express 'this [Noun] and that [Noun]'. You can insert almost any noun here, such as người này người nọ (this person and that person) or chuyện này chuyện nọ (this matter and that matter). Other highly common core collocations include thế nọ thế kia (like this and like that) and cái nọ cái kia (this thing and that thing). Another highly common everyday structure is [Time] này qua [Time] nọ (e.g., ngày này qua ngày nọ - day after day, năm này qua năm nọ - year after year), which is heavily used to express continuous, tedious, or delayed actions. Furthermore, the standalone compound này nọ (this and that / stuff like that) is extremely common in modern speech. It often carries a dismissive, complaining, or gossipy nuance, as seen in phrases like người ta nói này nọ (people gossip about this and that) or đừng có đòi hỏi này nọ (don't go demanding this and that).

3. The Spatial Myth: Older dictionaries often list nọ as a spatial demonstrative meaning 'that yonder.' However, modern corpus linguistics shows that contemporary Vietnamese has completely bleached this spatial function. You cannot use nọ to point to a distant physical object; native speakers use kia for that purpose. While literal spatial pointing is obsolete, nọ does survive in a few fixed spatial idioms, such as đứng núi này, trông núi nọ (standing on this mountain, looking at that mountain - meaning the grass is always greener on the other side) or bên nọ bên kia (this side and that side).

Morphological & Regional notes: Diachronically, the third-person pronoun nó ('he/she/it') is a tonal derivation of nọ. While nọ remained a bound modifier requiring a noun, nó evolved into a free pronoun. Additionally, in Central Vietnamese dialects (such as in Huế or Nghệ An), the word nớ is frequently used in place of nọ (as well as đó), often paired with ni (this). Furthermore, there is a specific sequential time exception in Southern/Mekong Delta dialects. While standard Vietnamese uses nọ indefinitely, Southern dialects use it as a specific sequential time marker meaning 'three days away' (e.g., future: ngày mai -> ngày mốt -> ngày kia -> ngày nọ; past: hôm qua -> hôm kia -> hôm nọ).

Examples (5)

  1. Một ngày nọ, có một người tiều phu vào rừng đốn củi.

    One day, there was a woodcutter who went into the forest to chop wood.

    Word by Word: One day that-yonder, exist one person woodcutter enter forest chop wood.

    A classic literary opening establishing an indefinite past narrative frame.

  2. Ở một ngôi làng nọ, có hai vợ chồng nghèo.

    In a certain village, there was a poor husband and wife.

    Word by Word: At one classifier village that-yonder, exist two wife husband poor.

    Demonstrates the use of nọ as an indefinite narrative reference to introduce a place or person (like 'ông nọ', 'bà nọ').

  3. Hôm nọ tôi gặp cô ấy ở siêu thị.

    The other day, I met her at the supermarket.

    Word by Word: Day that-yonder I meet aunt that at supermarket.

    A common everyday collocation referring to an unspecified recent past.

  4. Cuộc sống mà, lúc nào cũng có chuyện này chuyện nọ.

    That's life, there is always this matter and that matter.

    Word by Word: Life but, moment which also exist matter this matter that-yonder.

    Shows the highly productive [Noun] này [Noun] nọ pattern used to refer to various unspecified things.

  5. Bản thân tôi hay nói người Tây thích thế nọ, muốn thế kia.

    I myself often say Westerners like this, and want that.

    Word by Word: Body self I often say person West like way that-yonder, want way that-over-there.

    Used anaphorically in a fixed pair to indicate an unspecified 'other' or contrasting desires.

Common Mistakes

  • Using nọ to point to physical objects in space.

    Nhìn cái bàn nọ kìa!
    Nhìn cái bàn kia kìa!

    Because older dictionaries translate nọ as 'that yonder,' learners try to use it spatially. In modern Vietnamese, nọ has lost its spatial meaning; use kia for physical distance.

  • Using ngày nọ to refer to future aspirations ('one day I will...').

    Một ngày nọ, tôi sẽ trở nên giàu có.
    Một ngày nào đó, tôi sẽ trở nên giàu có.

    Nọ is strictly unidirectional and only refers to the past. For the future 'one day,' use một ngày nào đó.

How It Connects

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nọLevel 6That One Yonder

Learn This First

To understand 'nọ', learners first need to be familiar with the standard distal demonstrative 'kia' (that) and how demonstratives are positioned at the end of a noun phrase. Additionally, because 'nọ' is primarily used in formal literature and folk tales, an awareness of the differences between spoken and written registers is necessary to use it in the correct context.

Words in This Pattern

nọ