Basic Vietnamese

Tones

There are six tones in Vietnamese, each of which is represented by a different diacritical mark. Depending on the tones, the word “ma” can mean ghost, mother, which/but, tomb, horse or rice seedling. The six tones are:

• Mid tone: produced at the relative middle of your voice range. No tone mark is used. (ma = ghost)
• High-rising tone: begins high and rises sharply. (má = mother)
• Low- falling tone: begins low and falls lower. (mà = but)
• Low-rising tone: begins low, dips lower, then rises sharply. (mả = tomb)
• High-broken tone: begins above middle, dips, then rises sharply. (mã = horse)
• Low-broken tone: begins low then falls sharply. (mạ = rice seedling)

Vietnamese Alphabet

a   ă   â   b   c   d   đ   e   ê   g   h   i   k   l    m   n   o   ô   ơ   p   q   r    s   t   u   ư   v   x   y

Pronunciation

a- like a in part    
ă- like u in cup, cut    
â- like  (?)
b- like b
c,k- like k    
d- like z in zero    
đ- like d    
e- like e in lend    
ê- like ai in plain    
g- like g in gain    
h- like h in house    
i,y- like e in me    
l- like l in live    
m- like m    
n- like n    
o- like o in core    
ô- like oh    
ơ- like in nerd    
p- like p    
qu- like q    
r- like r in really    
s- like sh in she    
t- like t in total    
u- like oo in cool    
ư- like u in huh  
v- like v    
x- like s in so

Others

gi- as z in north or y in south
ng- like the -nga- in long ago      
nh- like ni in opinion                      
ph- like f    
tr- as ch in north and tr in south    
th- like th in thanks        
ch- like ch in chew