How to read Vietnamese letters: ă, â, ê, ô, ơ, ư and đ

The Vietnamese alphabet has 29 letters, and seven of them are special: ă, â, ê, ô, ơ, ư and đ. The marks on these letters change the sound of the letter itself, which is different from the five tone marks that change a word's pitch.

Once you know these seven, you can sound out almost any Vietnamese word on a menu, a sign or a song title.

The full alphabet

Here are all 29 letters in order:

a ă â b c d đ e ê g h i k l m n o ô ơ p q r s t u ư v x y

Notice what's missing: f, j, w and z aren't part of the native alphabet, though they show up in foreign words and names. Sounds like "f" and "z" are spelled differently, as ph and d or gi (in the North).

This writing system, called chữ Quốc ngữ, uses the Latin alphabet. It was developed in the 17th century by European Catholic missionaries working with Vietnamese speakers, and a 1651 dictionary published by Alexandre de Rhodes is one of its best-known early records. It replaced earlier character-based writing in everyday use in the early 20th century.

Letter marks vs tone marks

A word can carry both kinds of marks at once. Take người (person): the horns on ư and ơ are part of the letters, and the grave accent on top is the falling tone. When you look a word up, both marks matter. For tones, see the six Vietnamese tones.

Ă: the short a

• Sound: a short, clipped "ah," like the "u" in "cut," said quickly.
• Examples: ăn (to eat), năm (year, five), mặt (face)
• Tip: ă never ends a word by itself; it always has a consonant after it.

Â: the short "uh"

• Sound: a short "uh," like the "u" in "but," shorter and tighter than ă.
• Examples: ấm (warm), tâm (heart, mind), bận (busy)
• Tip: the hat (circumflex) shape on â, ê and ô generally signals a "tighter" vowel.

Ê: the closed e

• Sound: like "ay" in "hey" but without the glide at the end. Plain e is more open, like "e" in "bed."
• Examples: đêm (night), mềm (soft), tên (name)
• Compare: em (younger sibling) uses open e.

Ô: the closed o

• Sound: like "oh," with rounded lips and no "w" glide at the end. Plain o is more open, like "aw" in "law."
• Examples: cô (aunt, teacher), bố (dad, North), ông (grandfather)
• Compare: có (to have) uses open o.

Ơ: the "uh" with a horn

• Sound: like "uh" or the vowel in "sir" without the r, held a bit longer than â.
• Examples: ơi (hey, used when calling someone), mở (to open), phở (pho)
• Tip: phở is often mispronounced as "foe." The vowel is ơ, closer to "fuh." See how to pronounce phở.

Ư: the "oo" without rounded lips

• Sound: there's no exact English match. Say "oo," then spread your lips into a smile while keeping your tongue in place. It sounds a bit like a muffled "uh-oo."
• Examples: sữa (milk), nước (water), những (plural marker)
• Tip: practise in front of a mirror; your lips should stay flat.

Đ: the English d

• Sound: like English "d" in "dog."
• Examples: đi (to go), đẹp (beautiful), đỉnh (peak, awesome)
• The catch: plain d without the bar is not an English d. It's "z" in the North and "y" in the South, so dạ sounds like "zah" or "yah." This is the single most common beginner mistake. More on regional sounds in Northern vs Southern Vietnamese.

A few letter combinations to know

• ph = "f": phở
• nh = "ny" as in "canyon": nhà (house)
• ng / ngh = the "ng" in "sing," even at the start of a word: ngon (delicious)
• kh = a soft, breathy "k," like clearing your throat gently: không (no)
• tr and ch = close to "ch," with regional differences: trà (tea), chó (dog)

How to practise reading

• Read street names and dish names out loud, letter by letter, then blended.
• Type words on a Vietnamese keyboard; typing aw to get ă or dd to get đ reinforces each letter.
• Read lyrics while listening to a song.

Start by finding one word for each special letter on a Vietnamese menu, and say them aloud; seven words will teach you the whole set.