Vietnamese phrase
How to say “Turn left at the first sub-alley” in Vietnamese
“Turn left at the first sub-alley” in Vietnamese is
Quẹo trái ở ngách đầu tiên
Hear it in both accents
Vietnamese sounds noticeably different north to south. Both are recorded so you can match wherever you are.
Northern
Hanoi and the north
Southern
Saigon and the south
Used in a sentence
Anh đi thẳng rồi quẹo trái ở ngách đầu tiên nhé.
Go straight and turn left at the first sub-alley.
Northern
Hanoi and the north
Southern
Saigon and the south
Worth knowing
Word by word: Quẹo (turn) + trái (left) + ở (at) + ngách (sub-alley) + đầu tiên (first)
North vs south: 'Quẹo' is Southern for 'turn' (Northern: 'rẽ'), while 'ngách' is a Northern term for a small sub-alley.
When you would use it
This line comes from the The Hẻm Delivery situation pack in XinChao (Survival) — the moments you actually run into in Việt Nam, not textbook drills.
See the survival packsRelated phrases
- Đầu hẻmAlley entrance
- Anh đi thẳng vào hẻm điGo straight into the alley
- Dạ thấy rồi. Nhà anh số 45/12/7 đúng không?Got it. Your house is 45/12/7, right?
- Alo, em là shipper đây. Em đang ở đầu hẻm 45, anh ở đâu ạ?Hello, I'm the shipper. I'm at the entrance of alley 45, where are you?
- Tôi đang đứng trước cửaI am standing in front of the door
- Dạ em đang đi thẳng. Tới ngã ba rồi, quẹo đâu nữa anh?Okay, I'm going straight. I've reached a fork, where do I turn now?