Vietnamese Glot: Learn Alphabet

Vietnamese Alphabet: Letters and Pronunciation

Learn the Vietnamese letters, their names, pronunciations, and equivalents in English.

Vietnamese Alphabet: Letters and Pronunciation

Unlike several other Asian languages, Vietnamese employs the Latin alphabet, which makes it more visually appealing and accessible for individuals who are used to Latin-based scripts.

The Vietnamese alphabet contains 29 letters. The letters F, J, W, and Z are not part of the native alphabet, but they may appear in loanwords and foreign names.

Vowels in Vietnamese

The Vietnamese alphabet contains 12 vowels, including unique accented forms:

• A (a) - Pronounced as in "father".
• Ă (ă) - A shorter version of "a".
• Â (â) - Pronounced as in "but".
• E (e) - Pronounced as in "bed".
• Ê (ê) - Pronounced as in "they".
• I (i) - Pronounced as in "machine".
• O (o) - Pronounced as in "or".
• Ô (ô) - Pronounced as in "go".
• Ơ (ơ) - Pronounced as "uh".
• U (u) - Pronounced as in "boot".
• Ư (ư) - A sound like "oo" but more open.
• Y (y) - Pronounced as in "bee".

Consonants in Vietnamese

The Vietnamese alphabet contains 17 consonants, along with several digraphs and trigraphs used to represent specific sounds:

• B, C, D, Đ, G, H, K
• L, M, N, P, Q, R
• S, T, V, X.

Additionally, Vietnamese utilizes digraphs and trigraphs to express unique sounds:

• Digraphs: CH, GH, KH, NG, NH, PH, TH, TR.
• Trigraph: NGH.

The letters F, J, W, and Z are not used in native Vietnamese words but appear in loanwords or when spelling foreign names.