INTRODUCTION TO BASIC VIETNAMESE

VIETNAMESE ALPHABET

Vietnamese letters	English Sound	Pronunciation / Example
a	α:	'a' as in father
â	ɜ	'u' as in but
ă	α	'a' as in hat
b	ɓ	'b' as in big, as in English
c	k	somewhere between a “k” and a hard “g” as in cat & go
d	z, j	'z' as in zoo (north), 'y' as in yes (south)
đ	ɗ	a cross between an English ‘t’ and ‘d’
e	ε	'eah' as in yeah
ê	e	'a' as in mate or ‘é’ in resumé
g	ɣ	'g' as in good, except when it is followed by i
h	h	'h' as in house, as in English
i	i	'i' as in machine (north), 'b' as in bit (south)
k	k	'c' as in cat
l	l	'l' as in life
m	m	'm' as in man, as in English
n	n	'n' as in nice, as in English
o	ɔ	'o' as in hot or the word ‘awe’
ô	o	'o' as in go
ơ	ɜ:	'ur' as in fur or ‘a’ as in alone
p	p	As in English
r	z, ɹ	'z' as in zoo (north), 'r' as in ring (south)
s	s, ∫	's' as in sure
t	t	't' as in tin
u	ʊ	'oo' as in boot
ư
v	v, j	'v' as in van (north), 'y' as in yes (south)
x	s	's' as in sore
y	i	‘ee’ as in bee

PRONUNCIATION

2.1 Syllables

2.2 Tones

Vietnamese is a “tonal language,” where changes in the pitch level of a word signal a change in meaning. Vietnamese has six different tones, all of which, except for the mid-level tone, are denoted by diacritic marks. These are shown in the chart on the next page, shown with the letter “o”.

English name	Vietnamese name	Mark		Ex		Meaning
1. High rising	Dấu Sắc, Thanh sắc	/		Đố		To defy
Starts from mid-level and rises sharply. Highest, steepest tone.
2. Low falling	Dấu Huyền, Thanh huyền	\		Đồ			Things
Starts from mid-level, slightly trails downward toward the bottom of the vocal range.
3. Mid-level or level	Không dấu, thanh ngang	None		Đô			Capital
Starts at the mid-point of the speaker’s vocal range, and remains stable and constant during the pronunciation of the syllable
4. Falling-rising	Dấu hỏi, thanh hỏi	?		Đổ			To pour
Starts slightly lower than mid-level, drops abruptly, and is then followed by a sweeping rise at the end of the syllable. Like making a question
5. High-rising-broken or waving	Dấu ngã, thanh ngã	~		Đỗ			To pass an exam
Starts as high as the High-rising tone, breaks, then rises and stops abruptly Waving mark, Making a question with high voice
6. Low-falling broken or Lower constricted	Dấu nặng, thanh nặng		.	Độ	Degree
Starts as low as the Low-falling tone and then drops off very sharply

*** When a letter includes both an accent and a tonal marker, the tonal marker appears above the accent mark, except for the Low-falling broken tone which appears as a dot below the letter. To illustrate, the six tones are shown below with the letter ă:

ắ ằ ă ẳ ẵ ặ

2.3 Initial Consonants

Viet initials consonants	English sound	Example
B b	ɓər	Ba, bố
C c	kər	Ca, con
CH Ch	tʃər, jər	Cha, cháu
D d	Zər, yər	Da, dì
Đ đ	ɗər	Đa, đi
G g	gər	ga
GI gi	Zər, yər	Gia, gì
H h	hər	Hà, hay
K k	kər	Kẹo, kín
KH kh		Kha, Khi
L l	lər	Là, làm
M m	mər	Má, mẹ
N n	nər	Na, no
NH nh		Nhà
NG ng		Nga, nguyễn
PH ph	fər	Pha, phở
QU qu		Qua
R r	zər, zər	Ra
S s	sər, ∫ər	Sa, sao
T t	tər	Ta, tết
TH th	θər	Tha, thi
TR tr	tʃər, jər	Tra, trời ơi
V v	vər, jər	Và, Vi
X x	sər	Xa, xuân

2.4 Attention

PERSONAL PRONOUNS: You and I

3.1 Option 1: Companion words

How to use You and I here is comparative to English’s way of using you and I

I	You
Tôi	Bạn	Very formal
Mình	Bạn	Neutral
Tao Tui Tớ Ta	Mày Ông (male) / Bà (female) Cậu Mi	Used for longtime friends

3.2 Option 2: Family members

Grandfather: Ông

Grandmother: Bà

Mother: Má (Mẹ)

Father: Ba (Bố)

Aunt: Cô, dì

Uncle: Chú, bác

Older brother: Anh

Older sister: Chị

Son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchildren: Con / Cháu

Younger brother / Younger sister: Em

Note:

We also use “our first names” for “I” and “you” in many cases.
Option 2 is much more commonly used than option 1

Example: Say “Hello” (Chào + you)

Chào em / Chào anh / Chào chị.

Chào Tú / Chào Hân

PRACTICE

Saying “Hello” (also goodbye) following the structure: Chào + you

To a woman who is from 1 to 10 years younger than you

To a man who is from 1 to 10 years younger than you

To a man who is from 1 to 10 years older than you

To a woman who is from 1 to 10 years older than you

To a person whose age is at your parent’s age

Saying “Thank you” following the structure: Cảm ơn + you

To a waiter who is around 28 years old at a restaurant.

To the people listed above.

Saying “Hello” following the structure: I + Chào + you

To the people listed above.

Saying “Thank you” following the structure: I + Cảm ơn + you

To the people listed above.

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VIETNAMESE ALPHABET

PRONUNCIATION

2.1 Syllables

2.2 Tones

2.3 Initial Consonants

2.4 Attention

PERSONAL PRONOUNS: You and I

3.1 Option 1: Companion words

Saying “Hello” (also goodbye) following the structure: Chào + you

Saying “Thank you” following the structure: Cảm ơn + you

Saying “Hello” following the structure: I + Chào + you

Saying “Thank you” following the structure: I + Cảm ơn + you