Vietnamese alphabet

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The Vietnamese alphabet was introduced to Vietnam by missionaries in the 1600's. The influence of Portuguese and French can be seen in how the letters are used.

Because Vietnamese is a tonal language, some diacritics are used over (and under) the written vowels to indicate the six tones.

Contents 1 Vietnamese alphabet(Chữ Quốc Ngữ) 2 Consonants 3 Vowels 3.1 Single Vowels 4 Tones

Vietnamese alphabet(Chữ Quốc Ngữ)

There are 29 Letters in Vietnamese alphabet;

A/a(a), Ă/ă(á), Â/â(ớ), B/b(bê), C/c(xê), D/d(dê), Đ/đ(đê), E/e(e), Ê/ê(ê), G/g(giê), H/h(hát), I/i(i ngắn), K/k(ca), L/l(e lờ), M/m(e mờ), N/n(e nờ), O/o(o), Ô/ô(ô), Ơ/ơ(ơ), P/p(pê), Q/q(qui), R/r(e rờ), S/s(ét-sì), T/t(tê), U/u(u), Ư/ư(ư), V/v(vê), X/x(ích-xì), Y/y(y dài)

Consonants

Below are the list of consonants, of which there are 26.

Some graphs have a slight change in value depending on whether they are word-initial or word-final. Out of 26 consonantal graphs, only 8 can stand in final positions.

Note that gh and ngh are forms of g and ng, respectively:

Graph	Initial Sound (*dialect)	Final Sound	Notes
b	ɓ	-	Somewhat like b in big.
c	k	k (unreleased) k͡p	Like c in cat. In Vietnamese, this letter is never used before e, ê, i or y. In final position, c is an unreleased sound (i.e. no aspiration, as in English). Additionally, when c follows a vowel with rounded lips, it causes the mouth to firmly shut.
ch	t∫ or ʨ (North) c (South/Mid)	k (North) d (South/Mid)	Initial, like ch in church, but final like unreleased k (north) and unreleased d (south).
d	z (North) j (South/Mid)	-	In the north, like z in zoo, but in the south and central areas like y in yes.
đ	ɗ	-	Somewhat like d in done.
g	ɣ		Somewhat like g in good. In Vietnamese, this letter is never used before e, ê, i or y.
gh	ɣ	-	Somewhat like g in good. In Vietnamese, this letter is only used before e, ê, i and y. See ng below.
gi	z (North) j (South/Mid)	-	In the north, like z in zoo, but in the south and central areas like y in yes. Thus, in the south, both d and gi are identically pronounced /j/; while in the north, both are pronounced /z/
h	h	-	As in English
k	k	-	Like c in cat. In Vietnamese, this letter is only used before e, ê, i and y
kh	kh, x	-	Either like c in cat, but aspirated; or, ch in German Bach.
l	l	-	As in English
m	m	m	As in English
n	n	n	As in English
ng	ŋ	ŋ ŋ͡m	Like ng in singer, never like ng in finger. Word-finally, when ng follows a vowel with rounded lips, it causes the mouth to firmly shut. Like g, ng is never used before e, ê, i, or y.
ngh	ŋ	-	Like ng in singer, never like ng in finger. Like gh, ngh is only used before e, ê, i, or y.
nh	ɲ	ŋ (North) n (South/Mid)	Initial, like ñ in Spanish señorita and ny in English cranyon. Final, like ng as in English sing (north) or like n as in English ban (south).
p	p	p (unreleased)	Strictly speaking, Vietnamese doesn't have this sound at the beginning of words. A lot of native speakers confuse it with /b/.
ph	f	-	Like f in find
qu	kw	-	As in English
r	z (North) ɹ (South/Mid)	-	In the north, like z in zoo. In the south, as in English.
s	s (North) ∫ (South/Mid)	-	In the north, like s in sore, but in the south and central areas almost like s in sure.
t	t	t (North) k (South/Mid)	Like t in stop. This is an unaspirated t Word-finally, it works like c in Southern dialects.
th	th	-	Like t in top. This is the aspirated t
tr	t∫ or ʨ (North) ʈɽ or tɹ (South)	-	In the North, like like ch in church. In the South, like tr in tree
v	v (North) j (South)	-	In the North, like v in van. In the South, like y in yes. Thus in Southern dialects, d, gi and v are exactly the same.
x	s	-	Like s in sore.

Vowels

Single Vowels

There are 12 simple vowels in Vietnamese:

Graph	Northern value	Southern value	Notes
a	α:	α:	a in father
ă	α	α	short version of a
â	ɜ	ɜ ɨ	u in Am. Eng. but
e	ε	ε	e in get
ê	e	e	a in hate, but without the "ee" glide
i	i	ɪ ɨ	i in machine (North) or in bit (South)
o	ɔ	ɔ	o in Br. Eng. hot
ô	o	o	oa in Canadian Eng. boat
ơ	ɜ:	ɤ:	u in Am. Eng. fur
u	ʊ	u	oo in boot
ư	ɨ	ɯ	like oo in boot, but with unrounded lips.
y	i	ɪ ɨ	Has the same phonetic values of i, but implies that the word has a Sinitic (Chinese) origin. IMPORTANT: the digraph uy [wi] is totally different from ui [uj].

===Diphthongs===

Tones

Tone marks only apply for vowels.

Five tones, mid (no mark), high rising (acute mark), high falling (grave mark), low rising (question mark), high creaky (tilde), place their marks above the vowel. The sixth tone, low creaky (period), places its mark below the vowel.

Here is a sample of a, with tone marks: a, á, à, ả, ã, ạ

Sample of ê, with tone marks: ê, ế, ề, ể, ễ, ệ



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