How To Pronounce Vietnamese Words?: Tones & Sounds
Vietnamese uses six tones that each change a word's meaning. This guide breaks down all six, explains how vowels and consonants sound, and gives practical examples for English speakers.
Vietnamese is so difficult to pronounce! I hear you.
Most of my students, if not all, have difficulties when speaking Vietnamese at the beginning. The sounds and all these tone marks are tricky, and the tone difference sometimes seems so subtle too.
Well, so how to pronounce Vietnamese words? Let's find out in this lesson.
Tips to pronounce Vietnamese
Some vowels in Vietnamese don't appear in the English alphabet, such as ă, â, ô, ơ, ư.
To solve this problem, you should build a basic understanding of the tone and sound systems, and keep listening and speaking so you can grow familiar with the sounds.
It's exactly how Vietnamese kids learn at school. We practice the vowels, then the consonants and finally combining them together.
Practice makes perfect! Now let's get to the tone system.
The tone system
Vietnamese is a tonal language, so adding the tone will make it become a different word, and therefore, conveying a different meaning.
Vietnamese has a total of six tones.
However, there are only five tone marks, each indicating a different tone. The sixth tone, the level tone, receives no marking.
Take a as an example.
| Tone name | Vietnamese name | Tone mark | Examples | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Không dấu | no diacritic | ma | ghost |
| Sharp | Dấu sắc | acute accent(´) | má | mom |
| Hanging | Dấu huyền | grave(`) | mà | but |
| Asking | Dấu hỏi | hook( ̉ ) | mả | tomb |
| Tumbling | Dấu ngã | tilde(~) | mã | horse |
| Heavy | Dấu nặng | dot(.) | mạ | young rice plant |
Pronunciation
- Level tone (unmarked): voice is steady and remains level.
- Sharp tone (the acute accent): voice goes up sharply.
- Hanging tone (the grave accent): voice is low and stays low.
- Asking tone (the hook): voice begins low then goes up.
- Tumbling tone (the tilde): voice starts mid, dips down, then rises sharply at the end
- Heavy tone (the dot): voice starts low and immediately drops to the lowest pitch.
Vietnamese sounds
Below are some basic vowels and their examples. Vietnamese vowel clusters are much more difficult to pronounce.
| Vowels | Pronunciation | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| a | far | ma (“ghost”) |
| ă | father (shortened a) | mắt (“eye”) |
| â | run | mất (“lost”) |
| e | bed | xe (“vehicle”) |
| ê | may | hên (“lucky”) |
| i, y | me | đi (“go”), yêu (“love”) |
| o | floor | no (“full”) |
| ô | no | cô (“she”) |
| ơ | sir | mơ (“dream”) |
| u | boo | cũ (“old”) |
| ư | uh-huh | rừng (“forest”) |
Vietnamese consonants
| Consonants | Pronunciation | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| b | bag | bao (“bag”) |
| c | call | ca (sing) |
| ch | chip | cha (“dad”) |
| d | zeal | dao (“knife”) |
| đ | do | đi (“go”) |
| g, gh | get | ga (“gas”), ghen ("jealous") |
| h | how | ho (“cough”) |
| k | call | kho (“stew”) |
| kh | ch in Bach | khói (“smoke”) |
| l | lay | lo (“worry”) |
| m | mom | mẹ (“mom”) |
| n | name | nắng (“sun”) |
| ng, ngh | sing | ngon (“delicious”), nghe (”listen”) |
| nh | lasagna | nhanh (“fast”) |
| p | pen | pin ("battery") |
| ph | fine | phở (“pho”) |
| qu | qualm | quen (“familiar”) |
| r | red | rau (“vegetable”) |
| s | send | sen (“lotus”) |
| t | team | tim (“heart”) |
| th | thank | tháng (“month”) |
| tr | try | trăng (“moon”) |
| v | voice | và (“and”) |
| x | soul | xa (“far”) |
| y | yes | ý nghĩa (meaning) |
Next steps
When you first start learning Vietnamese pronunciation, it can feel intimidating. But the sounds become natural with practice. Keep listening, keep repeating.