lắm

Very (After the Adjective)

Level 1

In casual Vietnamese, to say something is very good, beautiful, or tiring, you put lắm after the adjective.

How It Works

1. Everyday Intensifier
While rất (very) is often used in formal or written contexts, native speakers use lắm constantly in daily conversations across all regions of Vietnam. It feels more natural and emotional for personal opinions.

2. Word Order is Key
Place lắm after the adjective or feeling verb it modifies. If the feeling verb has an object, lắm must be placed at the very end of the clause, after the object.

  • Ngon (tasty) ➔ Ngon lắm (Very tasty)
  • Thích (to like) ➔ Thích lắm (Like a lot)
  • Tôi thích món này lắm (I like this dish a lot)

3. How to say 'Not very'
To say 'not very', use the pattern không + [Adjective / Feeling Verb] + lắm. Do not try to combine không with 'rất'.

4. Compared to Quá
While quá can be placed either before or after the adjective, it usually expresses sudden surprise or excess ('too much!'). Lắm strictly goes after adjectives and feeling verbs and is just a strong statement of high degree ('really/super') without the sudden shock.

5. Using with Action Verbs
When attached directly to action verbs, lắm means doing the action 'a lot' or 'too much' (e.g., nói lắm - talk a lot, ăn lắm - eat a lot). If you want to say you do something 'very well', you need an adverb like giỏi (well) before lắm (e.g., nói tiếng Việt giỏi lắm - speak Vietnamese very well).

6. Using with Nouns
When meaning 'many' or 'a lot of', lắm is placed before the noun. This usage is highly colloquial. While it can carry a complaining or negative tone in some phrases (like lắm chuyện - talkative/nosy), it is often just informal and neutral in others (like lắm tiền - a lot of money). For formal or standard statements, you should use nhiều instead.

  • Lắm tiền (A lot of money)
  • Lắm chuyện (Many issues / Talkative)

7. Lắm lắm
For extreme, affectionate emphasis in casual speech, you can repeat the word as lắm lắm to mean 'very, very much'.

  • Cảm ơn nhiều lắm lắm (Thank you so, so much)
  • Nhớ lắm lắm (Miss you so, so much)

Examples (4)

  1. Phở ở đây ngon lắm.

    The phở here is really good.

    Word by Word: Pho located here tasty very.

    Notice how 'lắm' comes directly after 'ngon' (tasty).

  2. Hôm nay tôi mệt lắm.

    I'm so tired today.

    Word by Word: Today I tired very.

    Used with a feeling adjective to express a strong personal state.

  3. Tôi thích uống cà phê lắm.

    I like drinking coffee very much.

    Word by Word: I like drink coffee very.

    It can also modify psychological verbs like 'thích' (to like) or 'nhớ' (to miss).

  4. Bộ phim này không hay lắm.

    This movie is not very good.

    Word by Word: Set film this not interesting very.

    The standard, natural way to say 'not very' is 'không ... lắm'.

Common Mistakes

  • Placing 'lắm' before the adjective like the English word 'very'.

    Món này lắm ngon.
    Món này ngon lắm.

    In Vietnamese, 'lắm' must always go after the adjective or verb it modifies.

  • Translating 'not very' literally by combining 'không' and 'rất'.

    Thời tiết hôm nay không rất tốt.
    Thời tiết hôm nay không tốt lắm.

    To say 'not very', native speakers use the pattern 'không + [Adjective] + lắm'. Saying 'không rất' sounds highly unnatural.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

lắmLevel 1Very (After the Adjective)

Learn This First

To use 'lắm' correctly, you need to understand that Vietnamese adjectives follow the noun and act as predicates without needing the verb 'là'. 'Lắm' is then simply appended after the adjective to add intensity.

Words in This Pattern

lắm