Cái này / cái kia / cái nào — Choosing among things

What you will learn

You already met cái này in the price lesson. Now you will build a small system for pointing to and choosing things:

• cái này — this one;
• cái kia — that one over there / the other one;
• cái nào — which one.

1. Cái này — this one

• Cái này bao nhiêu?
• Tôi thích cái này.
• Cái này đẹp.

When the object category is already clear, cái này can stand for “this one”.

2. Cái kia — that one / the one over there

• Cái kia bao nhiêu?
• Cái kia rẻ hơn.
• Tôi không thích cái kia.

Kia commonly points to something farther away or contrasts it with something nearer/previously indicated.

3. Cái nào — which one?

• Anh thích cái nào?
• Cái nào rẻ hơn?
• Chị lấy cái nào?

Nào selects from possibilities rather than simply asking “what?” in the abstract.

4. Noun + này / kia / nào

The same demonstratives can follow an explicit noun phrase:

• áo này — this shirt
• áo kia — that shirt
• áo nào? — which shirt?
• món này — this dish
• món nào? — which dish?

Vietnamese generally places này/kia/nào after the noun phrase.

5. Cái is not simply “thing” everywhere

Cái has several grammatical and lexical uses. In cái này, it can help refer to an object whose noun is understood.

Do not insert cái before every Vietnamese noun. People, animals, books, vehicles and many other noun groups have their own counting and reference patterns.

6. Này and đây are different

Compare:

• cái này — this one
• đây là cái áo — this/here is the shirt

Này normally follows the noun/reference phrase, while đây can function independently as a place/deictic element in structures such as đây là....

7. Kia and đó are not always identical

You may also hear cái đó — that one.

A useful beginner distinction is:

• kia often points away or contrasts a more distant item;
• đó often refers to an already identified or contextually indicated item.

Real usage overlaps, so do not turn this into a rigid physical-distance formula.

8. A short shop conversation

Người bán: Em thích cái nào?

Khách: Cái này đẹp, nhưng hơi đắt.

Người bán: Cái kia rẻ hơn.

Khách: Cái kia có màu đen không chị?

Người bán: Có.

9. Nào inside larger questions

• Màu nào? — Which color?
• Loại nào? — Which type?
• Cỡ nào? — Which size?
• Ngày nào? — Which day/date?

This makes nào a very productive choice word beyond shopping.

10. Demonstratives and context

Vietnamese pointing words work with gesture, gaze and shared attention. A bare cái này is perfectly informative when both people are looking at the same item.

This is another reason Vietnamese can sound shorter than an English translation without lacking meaning.

11. Useful vocabulary

• này — this
• kia — that/over there/other, context-dependent
• đó — that, often contextually identified
• nào — which
• cái này — this one
• cái kia — that one
• cái nào — which one
• loại — type/kind
• cỡ — size
• màu — color

12. Vietnam in real life

At a shop or market, gesture plus cái này/cái kia can do a large amount of communicative work even when the learner does not know the product noun. This is a practical strength, not a reason to stop learning nouns.

13. Common beginner mistakes

• Putting này before the noun because English says “this shirt”.
• Using cái as a universal classifier for every noun.
• Assuming kia and đó have one perfectly rigid distance distinction.
• Confusing gì “what” with nào “which” when choosing from options.

Try it

1. Ask the price of this one.
2. Say that one is cheaper.
3. Ask “Which one do you like?”
4. Say “this shirt” and “which shirt?”.
5. Explain the difference between gì and nào in a shopping choice.

Quick recap

Này, kia, nào normally follow the noun/reference phrase. Cái này/cái kia/cái nào are powerful shopping forms when the object is already clear from context.