Definition

1. Numeral:
   • Twelve: The cardinal number that is the sum of ten and two. It represents a quantity of twelve items or units.
   • A dozen: A group or set of twelve. This is a common collective term for twelve items.

Usage Examples

• Numeral:
  • Tôi có mười hai quả táo. (I have twelve apples.)
  • Cô ấy đã mua mười hai cái bánh mì. (She bought twelve loaves of bread.)
• As "a dozen":
  • Tôi cần một tá (mười hai) quả trứng. (I need a dozen eggs.)
  • Anh ấy đặt mười hai bông hoa, tức là một tá. (He ordered twelve flowers, that is, a dozen.)

Advanced Usage

• "Hơn mười hai": More than twelve.
  • Số lượng khách tham dự là hơn mười hai người. (The number of attendees was more than twelve people.)
• "Khoảng mười hai": Approximately twelve, about a dozen.
  • Tôi ước tính có khoảng mười hai chiếc xe trong bãi đỗ. (I estimate there are about twelve cars in the parking lot.)

Variants and Related Words

• Tá (noun): Dozen. This is the direct equivalent and common short form for "mười hai" when counting in groups.
  • một tá trứng (a dozen eggs)
• Thập nhị (numeral): A literary or formal Sino-Vietnamese term for twelve, less common in everyday speech.
• 12: The numeric symbol.

Synonyms

• Một tá: One dozen. (This is a synonym when used as a collective noun for twelve items.)
• Mười lăm trừ ba: Fifteen minus three. (A descriptive, non-standard synonym indicating the calculation.)

Related Phrases

• Đến nơi đến chốn: (Idiom) This idiom, meaning "thoroughly" or "properly," is sometimes humorously associated with the number twelve because "chốn" sounds like "chồn" (ferret), and there is a traditional saying "mười hai con giáp" (twelve zodiac animals), though the ferret is not one of them. This is a playful linguistic connection, not a direct phrasal verb of "mười hai."
  • Công việc phải được làm cho đến nơi đến chốn. (The work must be done thoroughly.)

Notes on Usage

• "Mười hai" is a fundamental numeral in Vietnamese. It is used identically to the English "twelve" for counting and quantifying.
• When referring to a group of twelve items, the word "tá" (dozen) is very commonly used interchangeably with "mười hai". You can say "mười hai quả trứng" or "một tá trứng."
• It follows the standard Vietnamese numbering pattern: "mười" (ten) + number (hai, two). Other numbers in the teens follow the same structure (e.g., mười một, mười ba).

1. A dozen