kìa

See also: Appendix:Variations of "kia"

Vietnamese

Etymology

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 其 (“that; those”, SV: kì). Doublet of kia.

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kiə˨˩]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [kiə˦˩]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [kiə˨˩]

Pronoun

kìa • (其)

(colloquial) there (farther than “kia” but still visible); over there
hôm kìa ― three days ago

ngày kìa ― three days later

năm kìa ― three years ago

Derived terms

hôm kìa
ngày kìa

Interjection

kìa

(colloquial) Exclamation used before an appeasing remark, often in response to a previous uncaring expression that displeased the other person in a conversation; or, used to express disapproval.
Kìa em! Anh trêu có một tí mà cũng dỗi.
Hey now dear! I was just kidding around, why do you have to get sullen all of a sudden?

Kìa! Sao còn đứng đực ra đó? Bắt tay vào làm ngay đi chứ!
Hey! Why still standing there? Get to work immediately!

Usage notes

The intonation of this part of speech changes according to the context.

Derived terms

ơ kìa

	proximal (*-iː)	distal 1 (*-iːʔ)	distal 2 (*-əːʔ)	distal 3/ remote (*-ɔːʔ)	interrogative (rime was a rounded back vowel)
place, attributive¹ n-	ni nì này/nầy nây	ní nấy	nớ	nọ (nó)	nào
place, nominal² đ-	đây	đấy (ấy)	—	đó	đâu
manner r-	ri rày	—	rứa	—	ru sao³
extent 1⁴ b-	bây	bấy	—	—	bao
extent 2⁵ v-	vầy	vậy	—	—	—

¹ Originally can only follow a nominal (being used attributively), hence nơi này (“this place; here”), nơi nào (“where”) (no longer completely true in the modern language).
² Can be used on its own/is itself nominal, hence đây (“here”), đâu (“where”).
³ From earlier *C-raːw (where *C is nonspecific consonant).
⁴ Placed before the head: bây nhiêu (“this much”), bấy nhiêu (“that much”), bao nhiêu (“how much”).
⁵ Placed after the head: nhanh vầy (“this fast”), nhanh vậy (“that fast/so fast”).

visibility/evidentiality⁶
	distal (ngang)	remote (huyền)
Northern-Southern	kia (cơ)	kìa (cờ)
Central	tê	tề

⁶ Originally, these demonstratives might have been used to assert that something is visible and/or verifiable. They have been bleached quite thoroughly and currently are usually used like other distal demonstratives. The biggest trace of their evidentiality might be in their usage as final particles, often in reduced forms cơ/cờ: [t]ừ đấy về tới Hà Nội, còn những ba cái cầu nữa cơ mà! ("From there to Hanoi, there're still three more bridges to cross!") (Ba ngày luân lạc, 1943) and their (pretty much) obligatory use when locating an object: Không phải cái này mà là cái kia. ("Not this one, that one.")