{"id":4326,"date":"2026-04-20T19:38:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.vietcafe-learning.com\/material\/?p=4326"},"modified":"2026-04-20T19:38:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:38:49","slug":"grammar-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.vietcafe-learning.com\/material\/grammar-38\/","title":{"rendered":"Grammar 38: Expressions of Regret and Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When expressing feelings of regret about past events, Vietnamese uses phrases like &#8220;Bi\u1ebft th\u1ebf&#8221; or &#8220;\u0111\u00e1ng l\u1ebd&#8221;. In this lesson, we will introduce the meanings and usages of these two expressions.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Expression &#8220;Bi\u1ebft th\u1ebf~&#8221; = &#8220;If I had known&#8230;&#8221; \/ &#8220;I wish I had&#8230;&#8221;<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3>Structure:<\/h3>\n<div class=\"grammar_exp\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Bi\u1ebft th\u1ebf<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 <strong>+<\/strong>\u00a0 <strong>Complete Sentence (Past Tense)<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>Explanation:<\/h3>\n<p>This expression is used to show <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>regret or reflection about a past event<\/strong><\/span>, implying that you would have acted differently if you had known the outcome.<\/p>\n<h3>Example Sentences:<\/h3>\n<div style=\"border: solid 4px #f5f5f5; border-radius: 10px; background-color: #f5f5f5; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 20px 20px 5px 20px;\">\u2460 Tr\u1eddi m\u01b0a m\u00e3i kh\u00f4ng t\u1ea1nh. <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Bi\u1ebft th\u1ebf<\/span><\/strong> t\u00f4i \u0111\u00e3 mang d\u00f9 theo.<br \/>\n\u3000The rain won&#8217;t stop. If I had known, I would have brought an umbrella.<\/p>\n<p>\u2461 \u0110au b\u1ee5ng qu\u00e1!<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> Bi\u1ebft th\u1ebf<\/span> <\/strong>t\u00f4i \u0111\u00e3 kh\u00f4ng \u0103n rau s\u1ed1ng.<br \/>\n\u3000My stomach hurts so much! If I had known, I wouldn&#8217;t have eaten raw vegetables.<\/p>\n<p>\u2462 C\u00f4 \u1ea5y v\u1ec1 r\u1ed3i. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Bi\u1ebft th\u1ebf<\/strong> <\/span>t\u00f4i \u0111\u00e3 \u0111\u1ebfn s\u1edbm h\u01a1n.<br \/>\n\u3000She already left. If I had known, I would have come earlier.<\/p>\n<p>\u2463 Em \u1ea5y thi tr\u01b0\u1ee3t \u0111\u1ea1i h\u1ecdc. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Bi\u1ebft th\u1ebf<\/strong><\/span> t\u00f4i \u0111\u00e3 khuy\u00ean em \u1ea5y \u00f4n t\u1eadp nhi\u1ec1u h\u01a1n.<br \/>\n\u3000She failed the university entrance exam. If I had known, I would have advised her to study more.<\/div>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Expression &#8220;\u0111\u00e1ng l\u1ebd&#8221; \/ &#8220;l\u1ebd ra&#8221; = &#8220;Actually, it would have been better to&#8230;&#8221; \/ &#8220;Should have&#8230;&#8221;<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3>Structure:<\/h3>\n<div class=\"grammar_exp\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u0110\u00e1ng l\u1ebd \/ L\u1ebd ra<\/span>\u00a0 +\u00a0 Complete Sentence<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>Explanation:<\/h3>\n<div>Similar to the previous structure, this is used to express <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>regret about the past, meaning you &#8220;should have&#8221; done something<\/strong><\/span>. Furthermore, it is also used to express <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>criticism or blame towards someone else&#8217;s actions<\/strong><\/span> (&#8220;You should have&#8230;&#8221;).<\/div>\n<h3>Example Sentences:<\/h3>\n<div>\n<div style=\"border: solid 4px #f5f5f5; border-radius: 10px; background-color: #f5f5f5; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 20px 20px 5px 20px;\">\u2460 Anh \u1ea5y b\u1ecb vi\u00eam ph\u1ed5i. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>\u0110\u00e1ng l\u1ebd<\/strong><\/span> anh \u1ea5y n\u00ean b\u1ecf thu\u1ed1c l\u00e1 t\u1eeb l\u00e2u r\u1ed3i.<br \/>\nHe got pneumonia. He should have quit smoking a long time ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u2461 G\u1ea1o h\u1ebft m\u1ea5t r\u1ed3i. L\u00fac n\u00e3y \u0111i si\u00eau th\u1ecb, <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">l\u1ebd ra<\/span><\/strong> t\u00f4i ph\u1ea3i mua th\u00eam g\u1ea1o.<br \/>\nWe are out of rice. I should have bought more rice when I went to the supermarket just now.<\/p>\n<p>\u2462 T\u00f4i c\u1ea3m th\u1ea5y kh\u00f3 x\u1eed v\u1edbi c\u00f4 \u1ea5y. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>\u0110\u00e1ng l\u1ebd<\/strong><\/span> t\u00f4i kh\u00f4ng n\u00ean c\u00e3i nhau c\u00f4 \u1ea5y.<br \/>\nI feel awkward around her. I shouldn&#8217;t have argued with her.<\/p>\n<p>\u2463 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>\u0110\u00e1ng l\u1ebd<\/strong><\/span> anh ph\u1ea3i h\u1ecfi \u00fd ki\u1ebfn s\u1ebfp tr\u01b0\u1edbc khi b\u1eaft \u0111\u1ea7u c\u00f4ng vi\u1ec7c n\u00e0y.<br \/>\nYou should have asked for the boss&#8217;s opinion before starting this job.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"48ca9c5e36c0a9b058c8a5db336e8096\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- VIETCAFE\u5e83\u544a2 -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4987689956940779\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"2300495280\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When expressing feelings of regret about past events, Vietnamese uses phrases like &#8220;Bi\u1ebft th\u1ebf&#8221; or &#8220;\u0111\u00e1ng l\u1ebd&#8221;. In this lesson, we will introduce the meanings and usages of these two&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.vietcafe-learning.com\/material\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.vietcafe-learning.com\/material\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.vietcafe-learning.com\/material\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.vietcafe-learning.com\/material\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.vietcafe-learning.com\/material\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4326"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/en.vietcafe-learning.com\/material\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4926,"href":"https:\/\/en.vietcafe-learning.com\/material\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4326\/revisions\/4926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.vietcafe-learning.com\/material\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.vietcafe-learning.com\/material\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.vietcafe-learning.com\/material\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}