Vietnamese Alphabet for Beginners

Vietnamese Alphabet for Beginners

If you are starting to learn Vietnamese, the first step is to become familiar with the Vietnamese alphabet. It looks similar to the Latin alphabet used in English, but it has extra letters and special marks called tones.

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1. The Basics

• The Vietnamese alphabet has 29 letters.
• It uses the Latin script, so you will see familiar letters like A, B, C….
• However, some letters are unique to Vietnamese, such as Ă, Â, Ê, Ơ, Ư, Đ.

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2. Examples of Letters

• A, Ă, Â → three different sounds, not the same!
• Đ → a special letter, different from D.
• Ơ, Ư → vowels that don’t exist in English.

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3. Tones

Vietnamese is a tonal language, which means the pitch of your voice changes the meaning of a word.
There are 6 tones in Northern Vietnamese (Hanoi style). For example:

• ma (ghost)
• má (mother)
• mà (but)
• mả (tomb)
• mã (horse)
• mạ (rice seedling)

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4. Why It’s Important

Learning the alphabet and tones helps you:

• Pronounce words correctly
• Avoid confusion
• Build a strong foundation for speaking and listening

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✅ Tip for learners: Start by practicing the alphabet slowly. Don’t rush. Pay attention to the tones from the beginning, because they completely change the meaning of words.

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👉 Next step: Practice reading simple Vietnamese words using the alphabet and tones