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Vietnamese Tones, Pronunciation and Alphabet
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 rise 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