Vietnamese · Pronunciation

Vietnamese Listening and Pronunciation Guide

The six Vietnamese tones, tricky vowels, and regional sound differences to sharpen listening and pronunciation skills. Front: the sound, word, or pattern. Back: explanation with a plain-English pronunciation note.

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Six tones overview

Vietnamese has six tones: level, falling, rising, questioning (dipping-rising), tumbling (broken), and heavy, each changing a word's meaning

Ngang (level tone)

No tone mark; spoken at a steady mid pitch with no rise or fall, as in "ma" (ghost)

Huyền (falling tone)

Marked with a grave accent; the voice starts mid and drops low and soft, as in "mà" (but)

Sắc (rising tone)

Marked with an acute accent; the voice rises sharply upward, as in "má" (mother, or cheek)

Hỏi (dipping-rising tone)

Marked with a hook above the vowel; the voice dips down and curls back up, as in "mả" (grave, tomb)

Ngã (broken/tumbling tone)

Marked with a tilde; the voice breaks with a slight glottal catch and rises, as in "mã" (code, horse)

Nặng (heavy tone)

Marked with a dot below the vowel; the voice drops low and short, cut off abruptly, as in "mạ" (rice seedling)

ma, mà, má, mả, mã, mạ

The classic six-tone teaching set on one syllable, showing how each of the six tones creates an entirely different word

ư

A vowel with no close English equivalent, pronounced like "oo" but with spread, unrounded lips instead of rounded ones

ơ

Pronounced like the "u" in "fur" but without any "r" sound, a mid central vowel

â

A short, clipped version of "ơ", pronounced quickly like "uh"

ă

A short, clipped version of "a", pronounced quickly and cut off

đ

Pronounced like an English "d", distinct from the plain "d" letter in Vietnamese which sounds like a "z" or "y" depending on region

d (northern vs. southern)

In northern dialects, "d" sounds like "z"; in southern dialects, it sounds closer to "y", a major regional pronunciation difference

gi

Pronounced like "z" in the north and like "y" in the south, similar to the plain "d" sound pattern

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