4 This trill initial consonant does not exist in the Hanoi dialect.
5 This retroflex initial consonant does not exist in the Hanoi dialect.
6 This retroflex initial consonant does not exist in the Hanoi dialect.
7 This retroflex initial consonant does not exist in the Hanoi dialect.
5
the t sound plus a puff of air. Please note that th is not pronounced the way it is in English (with the tongue blocking the teeth). It is pronounced as a t sound with a puff of air after it. Compare ta “we” versus tha “forgive.”
The consonant ch
English does not have a consonant similar to this Vietnamese consonant. It is halfway between the English ch and j sounds. For instance, cha “father,” and chú “uncle.” It should not be confused with the English ch as in chapter or chase.
The consonant nh
This consonant sounds like ny, similar to the Spanish ñ as in mañara. For example, nhà “house” and nhỏ “small.”
The consonant kh
This Vietnamese consonant is a rasping sound produced by narrowing the passage to the throat at the back of the mouth. The air squeezes through the passage on its way out, similar to the German ch or Arabic kh. For instance, khá “good,” khi “when.”
The consonants g and gh
These have the same pronunciation as kh, but more growly, with a vibration of the vocal chords in the throat. Compare ghi “write down” vs. khi “when.”
The consonants ng and ngh
These have the same pronunciation, like the ng in the English word hangar. In Vietnamese, this sound is often used at the beginning of a word. For example, ngủ “sleep” and nghề “occupation.”
The consonants d and đ
In Vietnamese the letter d is pronounced like English [z] whereas the English d sound is written as đ.
For example, da “skin” and đa “banyan tree”.
Labialization
This term refers to the rounding of the lips to pronounce a syllable which does not contain a rounded nuclear vowel. For instance, khá “good” is not labialized, while khoá “lock” is labialized. The character o is added to denote the labialization of the syllable. Labialization is also sometimes represented by the character u as in the labialized huệ “lily” vs. the unlabialized hệ “system.”
Vowels
Vietnamese has nine long vowels:
i, y [i] like bee, boy
ê [e] like may
e [ɛ] like set
ư [ɯ] similar to could
ơ [ə] like hurt
a [a] like father
u [u] like soot
ô [o] like boat
o [ɔ] like caught
two short vowels:
â [ə᷃] like hut
ă8 [ă] like cat
and three diphthongs:
iê, ia [i͜e] like vietnam
ươ, ưa [ɯ͜ə] like thương (love) ưa
(like)
uô, ua [u͜o] like mower
8 Note that a short nuclear vowel should always be followed by a final semi-vowel or consonant (see page 7).
6
Sounds at the end of a syllable
Syllables can end in a vowel or they can end in a semi-vowel on consonant as follows:
Vietnamese has two semi-vowel finals:
and six consonant finals:
i, y [ i̭ ]
u, o [ṷ]
m [m]
n [n]
ng, nh [ŋ]
p [p]
t [t]
c, ch [k]
Vietnamese grammar and usage
Here are a few simple grammar points that English-speaking learners of Vietnamese should take note of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The word order of the main parts in a sentence is similar to English. That is, the subject (S) comes first followed by the verb (V), which is followed by the object (O): S + V + O. However, there are some other differences between Vietnamese and English word order. For instance, in English an adjective comes before a noun to modify it, whereas it comes after the noun in Vietnamese. Compare beautiful flowers vs. hoa đẹp literally, “flower beautiful.” And, a Vietnamese demonstrative comes after the noun it modifies. For example: this person vs. người này literally, “person this.”
A Vietnamese verb does not change form to express person, number, time or tense. These meanings are conveyed by other words used together with the verb. It is very important to know how these auxiliary words are used, since some of them are placed in front of a verb whereas others follow it.
Most questions are formed by specific sentence forms, unlike many other languages where intonation alone can be used to ask a question.
A Vietnamese noun does not change form and there are no plural forms or gender forms. Separate words are used to refer to multiple objects. Some nouns take a so-called “classifier” when it is used with a number or a demonstrative. Different classifiers are used with different nouns and it is good to learn these.
Vietnamese normally use kinship terms instead of pronouns to address someone. It is a good idea to ask the Vietnamese person you are speaking to how to address her or him and how to refer to yourself. Being aware of this complicated issue, the person will be happy to explain it to you. This dictionary uses the general terms bạn for the singular you and các bạn for the plural you. Literally, bạn means “friend.” Other common terms used to address people are:
For example, anh means “elder brother”, chị means “elder sister”
Phonetic pronounciation guides
To assist the reader, a separate phonetic pronounciation is given after each Vietnamese word or phrase to clarify how it is to be read. The following symbols are used in the phonetic pronounciations:
Vowels (the original Vietnamese letter is given on the left and the phonetic representation given after)
a (long a as in father or lager) and ă (short a as in hat) are both represented by a. The same sound is represented by ah if at the end of a syllable.
â (short “uh” as in about) and ơ (long “uh” as in early) are both represented by u. The same sound is represented by uh if at the end of a syllable.
e (as in let) and ê (as in the first part of may) are both represented by e. The same sounds are represented by eh if at the end of a syllable.
i and y (short i as in happy or long i as in seek) are represented by i when the vowel is short and ee when the vowel is long.
o (short o as in pod) is