Lessons · Level 0
0-1. Vowels — the building blocks of Vietnamese sounds
Nguyên âm
🎯 Goal Hear and tell apart the 12 Vietnamese vowels · about 20 min
What Vietnamese looks like
Vietnamese uses the Latin alphabet. It has 29 letters, including 12 vowels. Unlike English, it's read the way it's written, so once you learn the rules you can read words you've never seen before.
There are two kinds of marks above and below letters:
- Vowel marks — ă, â, ê, ô, ơ, ư make a different vowel
- Tone marks — à, á, ả, ã, ạ show the pitch of the voice (covered in 0-3)
This app shows Vietnamese words colored by tone. For now, just know the colors are there.
The English-style pronunciation hints are only approximate. Some sounds don't exist in English, so always play the audio and copy it. (e.g. ư, ơ)
The 12 single vowels
| Vietnamese | Meaning | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ba | three a — open 'ah', mouth wide (as in 'father') | ba |
| ăn | to eat ă — short, quick 'ah' | ang |
| ấm | warm â — short, quick 'uh' (as in 'but') | uhm |
| em | younger sibling / I (to an elder) e — open 'eh' with the mouth spread wide (between 'bed' and 'cat') | em |
| đêm | night ê — tighter 'eh', mouth less open (like 'ay' in 'say' without the glide) | dem |
| đi | to go i — 'ee' (as in 'see') | dee |
| có | to have / yes o — wide-open, rounded 'aw' (as in 'law' or British 'hot') | kaw |
| tôi | I (formal) ô — tight, rounded 'oh' (lips pursed, no 'w' glide) | toy |
| ơi | hey! (calling someone) ơ — relaxed 'uh' (like 'u' in 'fur' without the r), mouth only slightly open | uhy |
| mũ | hat u — 'oo' with lips pushed forward (as in 'food') | moo |
| thư | letter ư — say 'oo' with lips spread flat (not rounded) and the tongue pulled back. No English equivalent | tew |
| ly | glass, cup (Southern) y — same 'ee' sound as i | lee |
Common diphthongs
| Vietnamese | Meaning | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| hai | two ai — 'ah-ee' (like 'eye') | hai |
| chào | hello ao — 'ah-oh' (like 'ow' in 'how') | chao |
| mua | to buy ua — 'oo-uh' | moo-uh |
| sữa | milk ưa — 'ư-uh' | sew-uh |
| bia | beer ia — 'ee-uh' (ends in 'uh', not 'ah') | bee-uh |
| tiền | money iê — 'ee-eh'. In the South, a final n sounds like 'ng' | tee-uhng |
Vowels English speakers mix up
- e / ê — they sound close to English ears, but in Vietnamese they make completely different words. For e, open the mouth wide; for ê, keep it small.
- o / ô / ơ — o is a wide-open 'aw', ô is a tight rounded 'oh', ơ is a relaxed 'uh'. Listen to all three back and forth.
- ư — try saying 'oo' while smiling, with lips spread; the tongue is pulled back. Starting with a rough version is fine.
- ia, ua, ưa — written with 'a', but the actual sound is closer to 'uh'. bia is 'bee-uh', not 'bee-ah'.