Vietnamese Language Primer

Bng ch ci ting Vit (Vietnamese Alphabet)

Ch (Letter) Tn ch (Name) Ch (Letter) Tn ch (Name)
a a n en/e-n
o o

b b
c x p p
d d q cu
r er/e-r
e e s x/t-x
t t
g gi u u
h ht
i i v v
k ca x chx/ch-x
l el/e-l y i-g-rch
m em/e-m [z] [dt]


Du (Vietnamese Accents)

Khng du no accent, mid level tone
Du sc - high rising tone, (m cheek)
Du huyn low falling tone
Du hi low falling-rising tone
Du ng high creaking-rising tone
Du nng low falling heavy tone

Pronounciation

tonal language meaning of words is changed by inflection
Vietnam used the Chinese symbol of writing until the 17
th
century when it was
transcribed into the Roman alphabet by Bishop Alexandre de Rhodes who added
accent marks to designate the five tones in the Vietnamese language.

Vowels: There are 12 vowels.

a e i o u y




Vietnamese Language Primer
Bng ch ci ting Vit (Vietnamese Alphabet)
Consonants: There are 28 consonants.
There are only eight final consonants (c, n, m, p, t, ng, nh, ch).

D without a bar is pronounced like a z by Northerners and like a y by
Southerners. For example, skin (da).
with a bar is pronounced like a hard d in English. For example, head (u).
S is pronounced like s by Northerners and like sh by Southerners. For example,
st (fever).
R is pronounced like z by Northerners and like r by Southerners.
For Northerners, there is no distinction between TR and CH.
The C is pronounced k before all vowels except e, , i and y and certains words like
c (fish).
CH is pronounced as c like in cha (father) or chn (foot).
NH is pronounced as as in nh (house).
PH is pronounced f as in phi (lung)
QU is pronounced kw as in qun o (clothes).
NG is pronounced as in Nga (Russia) or ngc (chest).