L'interface est traduite, mais les explications de cette page sont encore rédigées en anglais — le texte pédagogique n'a pas encore été traduit.
Vietnamien : orthographe → son
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.
Suivre un mot
Chaque case est une règle qui se déclenche. Survolez une case (ou ouvrez le tableau) pour voir pourquoi. Les règles s'appliquent dans l'ordre, la première qui correspond gagne — et cet ordre est le système orthographique. 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.
Consonnes et semi-voyelles
| 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. |
Voyelles
| 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/. |
Les règles, dans l'ordre
61 règles. La colonne de gauche est un motif (expression régulière) testé à la position courante dans le mot ; (?=…) regarde devant, (?<=…) regarde derrière, $ est la fin du mot.
| # | 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 |