How many tones does Vietnamese have?

Six in the northern standard the course teaches (ngang, huyền, sắc, hỏi, ngã, nặng); southern speech merges hỏi and ngã, so you will hear five in the south.

Is the Vietnamese alphabet hard for an English speaker?

The letters are the easy part – a day or two. The vowels ơ and ư and the tones take listening practice, and the difference between d, đ and gi is a matter of hearing them in words.

Where does the tone mark go?

On the main vowel of the syllable: over it for huyền, sắc, hỏi and ngã, under it for nặng. In a syllable with several vowels it goes on the one that carries the sound (hoà, tuyến).

The Vietnamese alphabet and its six tones

Latin letters you can already write, a few marks that change everything, and six tones that make one syllable six words.

Vietnamese is written in the Latin alphabet – chữ Quốc ngữ – with twenty-nine letters: the familiar ones minus f, j, w and z, plus seven marked letters: ă, â, đ, ê, ô, ơ and ư. The marks are part of the letter, not decoration: a and â are different vowels, d and đ different consonants (d sounds like z in the north, y in the south; đ is the d English speakers expect).

On top of the letters come the tones. Every syllable carries one of six: ngang (no mark, level), huyền (grave, falling), sắc (acute, rising), hỏi (hook, dipping), ngã (tilde, broken rising) and nặng (dot below, low and short). ma, mà, má, mả, mã and mạ are six different words – ghost, but, mother, tomb, horse, rice seedling. The tone sign is written over or under the main vowel, after the letters themselves.

The A0 level of the course teaches the letters, then the tones one by one with audio, then the first words; everything later builds on hearing the tones, and the Speak exercises check them. Below, tap any letter to see its stroke order, and the tone row to see where each mark sits.

The chart

Tap a character to watch it being written and to trace it yourself.

Letters

The six tones

Learn the tones as a melody, not a rule: hum each one on la before you say any word.
Pair the marked letters with their plain twins: a ă â, e ê, o ô ơ, u ư, d đ. Five pairs, five minutes.
Write the tone mark last, after the whole syllable – that is the order Vietnamese hands use, and it keeps the mark on the right vowel.

The lessons that teach it

The A0 level of the course, free: the letters, their sounds and the first words, with the same stroke animations and tracing exercises.

The Vietnamese Letters

Writing the letters, including the seven that only Vietnamese has.

Tones and First Words

The last letters, the six tones, and your first Vietnamese words.

The whole course: Learn Vietnamese together

Questions

How many tones does Vietnamese have?: Six in the northern standard the course teaches (ngang, huyền, sắc, hỏi, ngã, nặng); southern speech merges hỏi and ngã, so you will hear five in the south.
Is the Vietnamese alphabet hard for an English speaker?: The letters are the easy part – a day or two. The vowels ơ and ư and the tones take listening practice, and the difference between d, đ and gi is a matter of hearing them in words.
Where does the tone mark go?: On the main vowel of the syllable: over it for huyền, sắc, hỏi and ngã, under it for nặng. In a syllable with several vowels it goes on the one that carries the sound (hoà, tuyến).