Pronunciation
Alphabet
The Vietnamese alphabet uses the Latin script. There are 29 letters in the Vietnamese alphabet:
A а
Ă ă
 â
B b
C c
D d
Đ đ
E e
Ê ê
G g
H h
I i
K k
L l
M m
N n
O o
Ô ô
Ơ ơ
P p
Q q
R r
S s
T t
U u
Ư ư
V v
X x
Y y
The Vietnamese language does not use the letters F(f), J(j), W(w) and Z(z). Besides the ordinary “D(d)”, there is the varied version “Đ (đ)”. And there are 6 special letters with accent marks:
Ă (ă)
 (â)
Ê (ê)
Ô (ô)
Ơ (ơ)
Ư ư
Vowels
There are 12 single vowels, 32 double vowels and 13 triple vowels.
Single Vowels | a | ă | â | e | ê | i |
y | o | ô | ơ | u | ư | |
Double Vowels | ai | ao | au | âu | ay | ây |
eo | êu | ia | iê/yê | iu | oa | |
oă | oe | oi | ôi | ơi | oo | |
ôô | ua | uă | uâ | ưa | uê | |
ui | ưi | uo | uô | uơ | ươ | |
ưu | uy | |||||
Triple vowels | iêu | oai | oao | oeo | uao | uây |
uôi | ươi | ươu | uya | uyê | uyu |
Consonants
There are 17 single consonants and 10 compound consonants:
Single Consonants | b | c | d | đ | g |
h | k | l | m | n | |
p | r | q | s | t | |
v | x | ||||
Compound Consonants | ph | th | tr | ch | nh |
ng | ngh | gh | gi | kh |
All the consonants can be initials (the start of a word).
And these 8 consonants can be finals (the end of a word):
c
n
m
p
t
ng
nh
ch
Syllables
Generally, Vietnamese syllables have three parts: the initial, the final and the tone.
Initial
n
ăn
Final
zhan
m
.
Tone
Tones
Standard Vietnamese (Hanoi) has 6 tones. Take “a” sound for example:
a
à
ã
ả
á
ạ
Tone | Marker | Example |
First tone | no mark | a |
Second tone | ` (grave) | à |
Third tone | ~ (tilde) | ã |
Fourth tone | ̉ (hook above) | ả |
Fifth tone | ´ (acute) | á |
Sixth tone | . (underdot) | ạ |
Note: the marks on the letters ă, â, ê, ô, ơ, ư are not tone marks.