Learn Vietnamese together

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

1. a, ă, â, b, c, d, đ
2. e, ê, g, h, i, k, l
3. m, n, o, ô, ơ, p, q
4. Checkpoint: the first letters
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

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

1. r, s, t, u, ư, v, x, y
2. The six tones
3. Your first Vietnamese words
4. Checkpoint: letters and tones
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The alphabet, the six tones, and how a Vietnamese syllable is built.

1. The Vietnamese alphabet
2. The six tones
3. Syllables and finals
4. Checkpoint: Sounds & Tones
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Xin chào, politeness with ạ, and meeting someone for the first time.

1. Hello: chào and the address word
2. How are you?
3. Thanks and sorry
4. Checkpoint: greetings
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The kinship address system – the single most Vietnamese thing about the language.

1. Tôi, bạn, and why they are rare
2. Anh, chị, em – chosen by age
3. Cô, chú, bác, ông, bà – the older brackets
4. Checkpoint: Who am I to you
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Counting, age, phone numbers and the sound changes numbers make.

1. One to ten
2. Tens and the mươi/lăm changes
3. Hundreds, thousands, age
4. Checkpoint: Numbers
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Family members, có/không có, and possession with của.

1. My family
2. Có and không có
3. Của tôi: mine
4. Checkpoint: Family
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Classifiers – the word Vietnamese puts in front of a noun to count it.

1. Classifiers: cái, con, chiếc
2. Quyển, tờ, ly and friends
3. Pointing: này, kia, đó
4. Checkpoint: Things around you
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Everyday verbs and the plain present – a Vietnamese verb never changes shape.

1. A verb that never changes
2. Saying no
3. How often
4. Checkpoint: Every day
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Telling the time, the days of the week, and dates.

1. Telling the time: giờ, phút, rưỡi, kém
2. Days of the week: thứ hai … chủ nhật
3. Dates and months: ngày, tháng, năm
4. Checkpoint: Time and days
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Ordering in a quán, saying what you want, and asking the price.

1. Food and drink
2. Ordering: Cho tôi ...
3. How much is it?
4. Checkpoint: Food and ordering
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Where things are, ở as verb and preposition, and asking the way.

1. Asking where: Ở đâu?
2. Position words: trên, trong, bên cạnh
3. Asking if a place has it: Có ... không?
4. Checkpoint: Places
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

đã, rồi and chưa – how Vietnamese marks that something is done.

1. đã and rồi
2. chưa and the đã ... chưa? question
3. Time words for the past
4. Checkpoint: talking about the past
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

đang for what is happening and sẽ / sắp for what is coming.

1. đang: what is happening now
2. sẽ and sắp
3. Plans and intentions
4. Checkpoint: Now and later
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

hơn, nhất, bằng and như – comparison without changing the adjective.

1. Comparing with hơn
2. The superlative: nhất
3. bằng and như
4. Checkpoint: Comparing
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Transport, directions and the verb đi with its many companions.

1. Đi bằng gì? – how you travel
2. Asking the way
3. How far, how long
4. Checkpoint: Getting around
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Prices, bargaining and the words a market conversation runs on.

1. In the market
2. Bargaining
3. Trying and choosing
4. Checkpoint: Shopping
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The body, feeling ill, and the first meeting with bị and được.

1. Parts of the body
2. bị, the word for bad news
3. At the doctor
4. Checkpoint: Health
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Degree words that surround the adjective: rất, lắm, quá, hơi.

1. Degree words: rất, lắm, quá
2. hơi and khá
3. How you do it
4. Checkpoint: How much, how well
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

và, nhưng, vì ... nên and nếu ... thì – the first complex sentences.

1. Joining with và, còn, nhưng
2. Cause and result: vì ... nên
3. Real conditions: nếu ... thì
4. Checkpoint: Joining ideas
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

được, xong and mất – saying that an action reached its result.

1. Managing it: verb + được
2. Finished and finished off: xong and hết
3. What it costs: mất and tốn
4. Checkpoint: Results and outcomes
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

khi, trong khi, sau khi – ordering events in a narrative.

1. Setting the moment: khi and lúc
2. Same time or in order: trong khi and sau khi
3. Then what happened: rồi, sau đó, cuối cùng
4. Checkpoint: Telling a story
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

nếu, giá mà, miễn là – from real conditions to wishes.

1. Real conditions in depth: nếu ... thì
2. Unreal wishes: giá mà, giá như
3. Conditions with a limit: miễn là, trừ khi
4. Checkpoint: Conditions
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The Vietnamese passive: the same event told as bad news or good news.

1. The bad-news passive: bị
2. The good-news passive: được
3. Naming who did it
4. Checkpoint: bị and được
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

nói, bảo, kể, rằng – reported speech with no tense to shift.

1. Reporting a statement: nói rằng and nói là
2. Choosing the verb: bảo, kể, hỏi
3. Reporting a question
4. Checkpoint: Reporting what people said
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

mà – the all-purpose relative word, and when to leave it out.

1. The noun + clause pattern
2. The linking word mà
3. Which one exactly
4. Checkpoint: Describing with a clause
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

chắc, có lẽ, hình như, chắc chắn – how sure you are.

1. Guessing with chắc and chắc chắn
2. Weighing a guess: có lẽ and hình như
3. Ruling it out: không thể nào and làm sao ... được
4. Checkpoint: guessing and certainty
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

nhé, đấy, mà, cơ, à – the small words that carry the tone of a conversation.

1. Softening what you say: nhé, nha, nhỉ
2. Insisting and correcting: đấy, mà, cơ
3. Showing you heard: à, ừ, thế à
4. Checkpoint: Conversation particles
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

từng, vẫn chưa, mới ... đã – the fine grain of Vietnamese time.

1. Ever in your life: từng and đã từng
2. Still going: vẫn, vẫn chưa, mãi
3. Only just, and already: the mới ... đã frame
4. Checkpoint: aspect in detail
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

lẽ ra, đáng lẽ, suýt – what nearly happened and what should have.

1. Regret about the past: lẽ ra and đáng lẽ
2. Near misses: suýt and thiếu điều
3. Wishes about the past: ước gì and giá mà
4. Checkpoint: The unreal past
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

khiến, làm cho, để, cho – making something happen to someone.

1. Causing a state: làm cho and khiến
2. Letting and purpose: để and cho
3. Getting something done: nhờ, thuê, bảo
4. Checkpoint: Causing and letting
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

cho rằng, khẳng định, thừa nhận – reporting verbs that take a position.

1. Reporting an opinion: cho rằng and cho là
2. Taking a position: khẳng định, thừa nhận, phủ nhận
3. Reporting at arm's length: được cho là and theo
4. Checkpoint: Reporting with a stance
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Written and official register – the language of a letter, not a chat.

1. Opening a letter: Kính gửi, kính thưa, quý
2. Verbs for writing: thực hiện, tiến hành, đề nghị
3. Asking in writing: kính mong, xin phép, trân trọng cảm ơn
4. Checkpoint: Formal Vietnamese
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Collocations and the first idioms – Vietnamese pairs its words tightly.

1. Verb + noun pairs that are fixed
2. Doubled words: từ láy
3. Everyday idioms: thành ngữ
4. Checkpoint: words that travel together
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

tuy nhiên, do đó, ngoài ra – the connectors of written Vietnamese.

1. Contrast in writing: tuy nhiên, trái lại
2. Result and addition: do đó, ngoài ra
3. Pointing back at an idea: điều này, việc đó
4. Checkpoint: holding a text together
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The B2 grammar in one place, at the length of real speech.

1. Long sentences: sau khi, vì vậy, dẫn đến
2. Opinion with support: theo tôi, mặt khác, tóm lại
3. Retelling the news: được biết, theo đó, bị and được
4. Checkpoint: Putting B2 together
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The Han-Viet layer: where formal vocabulary comes from and how to read a word you have never met.

1. Two words for one thing: nước and quốc
2. Reading an unknown word: -giả and -viên
3. Word order inside the compound: bệnh viện, not viện bệnh
4. Checkpoint: Sino-Vietnamese words
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

chính, mới, có ... mà – putting the spotlight on one part of the sentence.

1. Naming the exact one: chính and chính là
2. Only then: mới and the phải ... mới frame
3. Fronting for focus: thì, còn, đối với
4. Checkpoint: emphasis and focus
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Implication, hedging and the polite refusal that never says no.

1. Refusing without không: để xem, khó nói trước
2. Saying less than you mean: cũng được, không đến nỗi
3. What was implied: ý là, ám chỉ, hàm ý
4. Checkpoint: Reading between the lines
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Turning a plain sentence into a written one with nominalisation and set phrases.

1. Nominalising with việc and sự
2. Longer noun phrases with của
3. Set phrases of written style: có vai trò, đóng góp vào, trên cơ sở
4. Checkpoint: Richer phrasing
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The spoken shortcuts, fillers and rhythm that separate a book from a person.

1. Spoken shortcuts: dropping tôi and cái
2. Buying a second: ừ thì, kiểu như, nói chung
3. North and south: bố or ba, bát or chén
4. Checkpoint: Sounding natural
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Newspaper, academic and administrative Vietnamese side by side.

1. Newspaper headlines: văn phong báo chí
2. Academic writing: văn phong khoa học
3. Official documents: văn phong hành chính
4. Checkpoint: báo chí, khoa học, hành chính
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Conceding, objecting and concluding in Vietnamese.

1. Giving ground first: đành rằng, phải công nhận
2. Saying no by degrees: e rằng, chưa hẳn, phản đối
3. Closing the argument: tóm lại, có thể kết luận
4. Checkpoint: conceding, objecting, concluding
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Near-synonyms and the feeling each one carries.

1. The ladder of one word: chết, mất, qua đời
2. Eating politely: ăn, xơi, dùng, thời
3. Positive and negative twins
4. Checkpoint: shades of a word
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The constructions that only appear in careful, high-level Vietnamese.

1. Frames that come in pairs: không những ... mà còn
2. Conceding the maximum: dù ... đi chăng nữa
3. Denying what the other person assumes: có ... đâu, nào có
4. Checkpoint: grammar at the edge
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Pairs that dictionaries translate the same and native speakers never confuse.

1. The joints of the sentence: mà, thì, là, rằng
2. Also and all: cũng, đều, cả, tất cả
3. More, again, one more time: nữa, thêm, lại, tiếp
4. Checkpoint: the small words that never swap
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Slang, humour and the phrases that never reach a textbook.

1. Everyday slang: xịn, chảnh, bó tay
2. Teasing and humour: trêu, đùa, xạo
3. Softening a hard sentence: hình như, chắc là, kiểu
4. Checkpoint: Like a native
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Rhythm, parallelism and the four-syllable habit of good Vietnamese prose.

1. Rhythm: four-syllable groups
2. Parallel pairs: một mặt ... mặt khác, càng ... càng
3. Stock images: làn sóng, bức tranh, gánh nặng
4. Checkpoint: The craft of style
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Writing as a professional: precise verbs, careful claims, clean numbers.

1. Reporting a claim: chỉ ra, nhấn mạnh, cảnh báo
2. Describing data: tăng vọt, giảm nhẹ, đi ngang
3. A professional email: đề nghị, thời hạn, rất mong
4. Checkpoint: the expert's voice
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Proverbs, ca dao and the references every Vietnamese speaker shares.

1. Proverbs: tục ngữ in real conversation
2. Folk verse: ca dao and the lục bát line
3. Shared references: Tết, bàn thờ, chú Cuội
4. Checkpoint: culture inside the words
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Contracts, notices and the Vietnamese that is deliberately hard to read.

1. Contract Vietnamese: bên A, có trách nhiệm, kể từ ngày
2. Exceptions and conditions: trừ trường hợp, với điều kiện
3. Plain Vietnamese: nói đơn giản, tức là, cụ thể là
4. Checkpoint: The fine print
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Everything at once, at native length and native speed.

1. Switching register: bạn bè, khách hàng, báo cáo
2. A whole argument: luận điểm, dẫn chứng, kết luận
3. At native speed: nuốt âm, giọng miền
4. Checkpoint: The summit
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions