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Alphabet & Pronunciation
Vietnamese alphabet, the six tones, diacritics and key pronunciation rules
a, ă, â
three related "a" vowels
ah, uh(short), er(short)
ă and â are short versions distinct from long a
o, ô, ơ
three related "o" vowels
aw, oh, ur
Each spelling is a genuinely distinct vowel sound
e, ê
two related "e" vowels
eh, ay
ê is closer/tenser than e
u, ư
two related "u" vowels
oo, uh(unrounded)
ư has no English equivalent — unrounded "oo"
d, đ
d and crossed-d
z (North) / y (South), d
d sounds like z/y; đ sounds like English d
6 thanh điệu
the six tones overview
level, falling, rising, dipping, creaky, low-glottal
ngang, huyền, sắc, hỏi, ngã, nặng
dấu sắc (´)
the rising tone mark
má
Sharp rising pitch, e.g. má (mother/cheek)
dấu huyền (`)
the falling tone mark
mà
Low falling pitch, e.g. mà (but)
dấu hỏi (ẻ)
the dipping-rising tone mark
mả
Falls then rises, e.g. mả (grave)
Xin chào / Tạm biệt
Hello / Goodbye
sin chow / tam byet
Basic universal greeting and farewell
