At a café. The cafe is full, the only free seat is at her table or right next to it, and you are standing there with your glass in your hand.
Hear it first
Try it in a scene →How to say “Can I sit here?” in Vietnamese
Cho mình ngồi đây được không?
chaw ming ngoy day dook khom
Word for word: Let me sit here, is it possible or not?
Hover or tap a word to see what it means.
Why it works
Sharing a table is ordinary in Vietnam when a cafe is full: you are not asking for her attention, you are asking for a chair. She can say yes without it committing her to anything, and that is what makes the question as easy to ask as it is to receive.
The mistake to avoid
Do not say this when three tables are empty: the request has no reason to exist any more and reads as a manoeuvre. Here `minh` means you, and you give her no pronoun at all. That is deliberate: as long as you have no idea of her age, you do not have to choose between `em` and `chi`.
What she says back, and what to do next
- Dạ được, anh ngồi đi.Green light
Yes, go ahead and sit.
→ Sit down, say `cam on em`, and leave thirty seconds of silence before you say anything else.
- Ừ, ngồi đi.Could go either way
Sure, sit.
→ Sit down and do not start talking straight away: she accepted a chair, not a conversation.
- Dạ em đang đợi bạn ạ.That's a no
Sorry, I'm waiting for a friend.
→ Smile, say `da, khong sao`, and go and find another seat without adding anything.