LinguaTwo things at once
Reading Vietnamese means doing two things at the same time: seeing the letters and seeing the tone. Neither works alone. ma, má and mạ are the same letters and three different words, and cơm and com are not the same syllable at all.
Three of the seven letters that only Vietnamese has. Each one is a letter, not a decorated vowel.
And two tones on one vowel: the mark above and the dot below, the highest and the lowest marks in the language.
| Written | What changes it | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| ma | no mark | ghost |
| má | the tone above | mother |
| mạ | the dot below | rice seedling |
| mắt | the letter with a bowl | eye |
| mất | the letter with a roof | to lose |
mắt của mẹmother’s eyes
bốn người trong nhàfour people in the house
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| mắt | eye | Mắt của em bé. The baby’s eyes. |
| tai | ear | Hai cái tai. Two ears. |
| sách | book | Quyển sách mới. A new book. |
| bút | pen | Cây bút màu đỏ. A red pen. |
| người | person | Một người bạn tốt. A good friend. |
| bốn | four | Bốn quyển sách. Four books. |
Exercises
This lesson has 8 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- trace the letter: 2
- fill the gap: 1
- match the pairs: 1
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
What makes ma and mạ two different words?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.