The Vietnamese alphabet: 29 letters and how to pronounce them
Updated · By the Chào team
How many letters are in the Vietnamese alphabet?
The Vietnamese alphabet (chữ Quốc ngữ) has 29 letters. It uses the Latin script without f, j, w and z, and adds seven letters of its own: ă, â, đ, ê, ô, ơ and ư. On top of the letters, five tone marks show how each syllable is pitched.
The full alphabet
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
Twelve of these are vowels: a, ă, â, e, ê, i, o, ô, ơ, u, ư, y. Open any letter on the alphabet page to hear it, see example words and the letters it is often confused with.
Letters that sound different from English
- đ is the English "d" in dog. Plain d is pronounced like "z" in the north and like "y" in the south.
- x is always "s" — xin chào sounds like "sin chow".
- nh is like the Spanish "ñ"; ng/ngh is the "ng" of sing, even at the start of a word (Nguyễn).
- ư is "oo" with the lips spread flat; ơ is like the vowel in "her" without the r.
- ă and â are short, clipped versions of "a" and "uh".
Where the tone mark goes
Tone marks sit on the main vowel of the syllable: tiếng, người, hoà / hòa (both spellings are accepted). The vowel letters ă, â, ê, ô, ơ, ư can carry a tone mark on top of their own mark, as in ở or ữ.
Frequently asked questions
Does Vietnamese use the letters F, J, W and Z?
Not in native words. They only appear in foreign names and loanwords. The "f" sound is written ph (phở), and "z" is the northern pronunciation of d, gi and r.
Is Vietnamese written phonetically?
Mostly yes. Once you know the rules, you can pronounce almost any written word, and each syllable is written separately with its tone marked.