Vietnamese: spelling → sound
Every Vietnamese syllable is written as a separate word and has the shape (consonant) (w) vowel (consonant) + TONE, and the spelling records all of it — the tone included, as a mark on the vowel: ma, mà, má, mả, mã, mạ are six words. Two families of diacritic sit on the vowels and they are not the same thing. â ê ô ơ ư ă make a different vowel (ê is /e/, e is /ɛ/; ô is /o/, o is /ɔ/; ơ is an unrounded o, ư an unrounded u; â and ă are short ơ and short a). The five tone marks (` ´ ̉ ~ .) sit on top of those. The consonants have a few missionary spellings to learn once: đ (with the bar) is /ɗ/, an implosive d, and plain d is /z/ in Hanoi; b is implosive too; ch is /c/, a palatal stop, not English ch; th is an aspirated t, never English th; kh is the German ach sound; ng can START a syllable (ngon); gi is /z/; c, k and q are all /k/, chosen by the vowel that follows. Syllables end open or in one of eight sounds — m n ng nh, the clipped unreleased stops p t c ch, or the glides written -i/-y and -o/-u — and length is contrastive on a and ơ: tai 'ear' has a long a, tay 'hand' a short one. Hanoi merges ch/tr, s/x and d/gi/r; the south keeps all three apart and merges two tones instead. If you speak Korean you already own the three hardest consonant facts — aspirated th against plain t is your ㅌ against ㄸ, the unreleased final -p -t -c are your 받침 ㅂ ㄷ ㄱ exactly, and ư is ㅡ — which leaves the tones, the implosives, and an ng- at the start of a word.
Trace a word
Every box is one rule firing. Hover a box (or open the table) to see why. Rules are applied in order, first match wins — that order is the spelling system. Type it as written, marks and all (cảm ơn, phở). The tone mark is part of the spelling — leave it off and it is a different word.
Consonants & glides
| IPA | Spelled | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ɓ | b | ba ɓa˧ three; father — Implosive: the larynx drops and air is drawn in as the lips open. A plain English b is understood, but sounds foreign. New for Korean speakers too — Korean ㅂ is neither voiced nor implosive. |
| ɗ | đ | đi ɗi˧ to go — The barred đ is the ONLY d-sound in Vietnamese; the unbarred d is /z/ (or /j/ in the south). |
| t | t | tôi toj˧ I — Unaspirated, like the t of French — or the t of American 'stop', never the t of 'top'. Korean ㄸ, or ㄷ between vowels. As a final it is unreleased: mất stops dead, like Korean 받침 ㄷ. |
| tʰ | th | thích tʰic˧˥ to like — th is an aspirated t — never English th. thích rhymes with English 'tick', and th is exactly Korean ㅌ against the plain t of ㄸ; a Korean speaker hears this pair without trying. |
| c | ch, tr (Hanoi) | chào caw˨˩ hello / goodbye — A stop made with the tongue body on the palate; there is no 'sh' after it. Close to Korean ㅈ but tighter and with no hiss. tr merges into it in Hanoi (the south says a retroflex /ʈ/). |
| k | c, k, q (qu) | cá ka˧˥ fish — One sound, three spellings: k before i/e/ê (kem), q with u (quê), c elsewhere. As a final it is unreleased — Korean 받침 ㄱ — and after o/ô/u the lips close at the same time. |
| m | m | mẹ mɛ˨˩ˀ mother |
| n | n | nước nɯək˧˥ water; country |
| ɲ | nh | nhà ɲa˨˩ house — Spanish ñ. Also a final: anh, bánh. |
| ŋ | ng, ngh | ngon ŋɔn˧ delicious — English and Korean have this sound only at the end of a syllable (sing, 강); Vietnamese puts it at the start. Say 'sing on', then drop the 'si'. ngh is the same sound before e/ê/i. |
| f | ph | phở fɤ˧˩˧ phở (noodle soup) — The missionaries' spelling of /f/. There is no letter f in native words. |
| v | v | vui vuj˧ happy, fun — Hanoi /v/; the south says /j/, so vui sounds like 'yui'. |
| s | x, s (Hanoi) | xin sin˧ to ask for; please — x is always /s/. In Hanoi s is the same sound; the south keeps s as a retroflex /ʂ/, so sông 'river' and xông 'to rush' differ there and not here. |
| z | d, gi, r (Hanoi) | dạ za˨˩ˀ yes (polite) — Three spellings, one Hanoi sound. The south says d and gi as /j/ and r as /ʐ/ or a trill, and keeps all three apart in writing. |
| x | kh | không xoŋ˧ no; not; zero — German ach, Spanish j — or Korean ㅎ in front of ㅡ (흐), which comes close. không is the word you will say most. |
| ɣ | g, gh | gà ɣa˨˩ chicken — A voiced fricative, like Spanish g between vowels — softer than English g. gh before e/ê/i. |
| h | h | hoa hwa˧ flower |
| l | l | làm lam˨˩ to do, to make — Clear l everywhere; never a final. |
| p | p (final) | họp hɔp˨˩ˀ to meet, a meeting — Only at the end of a syllable in native words, unreleased — Korean 받침 ㅂ, or the p of American 'stop!' said with the lips left shut. Initial p occurs in loans (pin 'battery'). |
| w | o-, u- (before a vowel), qu-, -o, -u (after a vowel) | sao saw˧ star; why — Both an on-glide (hoa, quê) and an off-glide (sao, đâu). |
| j | -i, -y (after a vowel) | tai taj˧ ear — Only as a final glide. tai 'ear' (long a) and tay 'hand' (short a) differ by the vowel, not the glide. |
Vowels
| IPA | Spelled | Example |
|---|---|---|
| i | i, y | đi ɗi˧ to go — i and y are the same vowel; the spelling choice is convention (Mỹ, kỹ). |
| e | ê | đêm ɗem˧ night — Closed e — French é, Korean ㅔ, the vowel of American 'say' without the glide. The hat makes it closed. |
| ɛ | e | mẹ mɛ˨˩ˀ mother — Open e — French è, the e of American 'bed'. Korean ㅐ as it was before Seoul merged it into ㅔ: Vietnamese still keeps the two apart, so mẹ 'mother' and mê 'to be entranced' are different words. |
| ɯ | ư | thư tʰɯ˧ letter — Say /u/, then unround the lips and keep the tongue where it was. The horn on the letter means 'unrounded'. This is Korean ㅡ (eu), exactly — a Korean speaker owns it already. |
| ɤ | ơ | cơm kɤm˧ cooked rice; a meal — Say /o/ and unround the lips — the same horn, same instruction. Close to Korean ㅓ (eo), and to American 'bird' with the r taken out. |
| ɤ̆ | â | cân kɤ̆n˧ to weigh; a kilo — A SHORT ơ: cân is clipped, cơn is held. The vowel of American 'cut', or a short Korean ㅓ. |
| a | a | ba ɓa˧ three; father — Long and open. Before -nh and -ch it is said shorter and fronter (anh, sách). |
| ă | ă, a (in ay, au) | ăn ăn˧ to eat — A SHORT a. Written ă on its own, but the a of tay and sáu is this vowel too — which is why tai/tay and sao/sáu are different words. |
| u | u | thu tʰu˧ autumn; to collect |
| o | ô | cô ko˧ aunt; Miss; female teacher — Closed o — French eau, Korean ㅗ, the vowel of American 'go' without the glide. The hat makes it closed. |
| ɔ | o | cho cɔ˧ to give; for — Open o — the vowel of 'law' for an American who keeps caught apart from cot, shorter. Korean has nothing between ㅗ and ㅓ; this sits between them. |
| iə | ia, iê, ya, yê | tiền tiən˨˩ money — One diphthong, spelled ia when nothing follows (kia) and iê when a consonant does (tiền). |
| ɯə | ưa, ươ | mưa mɯə˧ rain — ưa when final (mưa), ươ before a consonant (nước, người). |
| uə | ua, uô | mua muə˧ to buy — ua when final (mua), uô before a consonant (muốn). After q the u belongs to the consonant: qua is /kwa/. |
The rules, in order
61 rules. The left column is a pattern (regular expression) matched at the current position of the word; (?=…) looks ahead, (?<=…) looks behind, $ is the end of the word.
| # | Pattern | Sound | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ngh | ngh before e/ê/i: the same /ŋ/ as ng, respelled | |
| 2 | ng | ng is one sound, and Vietnamese can start a syllable with it | |
| 3 | nh | ||
| 4 | ch | ch = /c/, a stop on the hard palate — not English ch | |
| 5 | tr | tr merges with ch in Hanoi; the south keeps it apart as a retroflex | |
| 6 | th | th = aspirated t, never English th | |
| 7 | ph | ph = /f/ (the missionaries had no other way to write it) | |
| 8 | kh | kh = the German ach sound | |
| 9 | gh | gh before e/ê/i: the same /ɣ/ as g, respelled | |
| 10 | gi(?=[aăâeoôơuưy]) | gi- before a vowel: the i is silent and gi is /z/ (Hanoi) — già, giờ | |
| 11 | g(?=i) | g before i is /z/ and the i is the vowel: gì, giếng | |
| 12 | qui | qu = /kw/; the i that follows is a full vowel | |
| 13 | quy(?!ê) | quy = /kwi/ (quý, quýt) | |
| 14 | qu | qu = /kw/ — the u belongs to the q | |
| 15 | c | c, k and q are all /k/; which is written depends on the next letter | |
| 16 | k | ||
| 17 | đ | đ with the bar: an implosive d, the throat pulling down | |
| 18 | b | b is implosive too | |
| 19 | d | d without the bar is /z/ in Hanoi (/j/ in the south) — never English d | |
| 20 | r | r merges with d and gi in Hanoi; the south says /ʐ/ or rolls it | |
| 21 | x | x is always /s/ | |
| 22 | s | s merges with x in Hanoi; the south keeps it as a retroflex /ʂ/ | |
| 23 | g | g is a soft voiced fricative, like Spanish g between vowels | |
| 24 | [vfhlmnt] | ||
| 25 | p | final p is unreleased — the lips close and stay closed | |
| 26 | uyê | uyê = /w/ + the iê diphthong (chuyện, quyển) | |
| 27 | uya | uya = /w/ + the ia diphthong (khuya) | |
| 28 | uy | u before y is the glide /w/ (thuý) | |
| 29 | uâ | u before â is the glide /w/ (xuân) | |
| 30 | uê | u before ê is the glide /w/ (Huế, thuê) | |
| 31 | uơ | ||
| 32 | oa | o before a is the glide /w/ (hoa) | |
| 33 | oă | ||
| 34 | oe | o before e is the glide /w/ (khoẻ) | |
| 35 | iê|yê|ia|ya | ia / iê / yê: one diphthong — spelled ia when final, iê before a consonant | |
| 36 | ươ|ưa | ưa / ươ: one diphthong | |
| 37 | uô|ua | ua / uô: one diphthong (after q the u was the consonant's) | |
| 38 | ay | ay = SHORT a + j; ai = long a + j (tay hand, tai ear) | |
| 39 | au | au = SHORT a + w; ao = long a + w (sáu six, sao star) | |
| 40 | ây | ||
| 41 | âu | ||
| 42 | (?<=[aeêiơôoưuy])i | i after a vowel is the glide /j/ | |
| 43 | (?<=[aeêiưươy])u | u after a vowel is the glide /w/ | |
| 44 | (?<=[ae])o | o after a or e is the glide /w/ (ao, eo) | |
| 45 | â | â = a SHORT ơ | |
| 46 | ă | ă = a SHORT a | |
| 47 | ơ | ơ: an o with the lips unrounded | |
| 48 | ô | ô = closed o (French eau) | |
| 49 | ê | ê = closed e (French é) | |
| 50 | ư | ư: a u with the lips unrounded | |
| 51 | a | ||
| 52 | e | plain e = open e (French è) | |
| 53 | [iy] | i and y are the same vowel | |
| 54 | o | plain o = open o | |
| 55 | u | ||
| 56 | 1 | ngang (no mark): mid level | |
| 57 | 2 | huyền (`): low falling | |
| 58 | 3 | sắc (´): rising | |
| 59 | 4 | hỏi (hook): dips and comes back | |
| 60 | 5 | ngã (~): rises with a catch in the throat | |
| 61 | 6 | nặng (dot below): low, short, cut off |