The Vietnamese Alphabet

VIETNAMESE FOR BEGINNERS Vietnamese Alphabet

The Vietnamese Alphabet (V = Quốc Ngữ) has 29 letters and are based on the Latin alphabet, with the absence of the letters: ‘f’, ‘j’, ‘w’, ‘z’. The following list will show you all the letters of the Vietnamese alphabet and how to pronounce them.

Also in Vietnamese, a word is read exactly the way it is written, unlike in English, how there are silent letters.

Example

V = Xin chào
P = Sin chow
E = Hello

Unfortunately, there are a few letters that have the same pronunciation, therefore, two words can be pronounced the same way, yet have two separate meanings, like ‘bear’ and ‘bare’. So it just takes time to get it right.

Example

V = (1) Sôi / (2) Xôi
P = Soy
E = (1) To boil / (2) Vietnamese glutinous rice.

Vowels

A a = ‘a’ in ham
Ă ă = ‘a’ in Pat
 â = uh in huh?
E e = eh
Ê ê = air
I i = ‘ee’ in see
O o = ‘o’ in porridge
Ô ô = or
Ơ ơ = ‘ur’ in fur
U u = ‘oo’ in pool
Ư ư = eu
Y y = ‘ee’ in see

Consonants

B b = ‘b’ in bat
C c = ‘g’ in gone
D d = ‘z’ in zebra
Đ đ = ‘d’ in dog
G g = ‘g’ in gap
H h = ‘h’ in hat
K k = ‘g’ in gone
L l = ‘l’ in lemon
M m = ‘m’ in man
N n = ‘n’ in nun
P p = ‘p’ in pop
Q q = ‘g’ in gone
R r = ‘z’ in zebra
S s = ‘s’ in snap
T t = ‘t’ in tip
V v = ‘v’ in van
X x = ‘s’ in snap

Common Letter Combinations

These aren’t apart of the alphabet but are used a lot, to the point where they can be considered a letter in itself.

CH = (at the beginning of a word) ‘ch’ in chair / (at the end of a word) ‘ck’ in pick
GH = ‘g’ in gap
KH = ‘c’ in corn
NG and NGH = ‘ng’ in sing
PH = ‘f’ in fat
TH = ‘t’ in time
TR = ‘ch’ in chair
GI = ‘z’ in zebra
QU = ‘gw’ in Gwen
UY = like the French word ‘oui’