Periplus Pocket Vietnamese Dictionary. Phan Van Giuong
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Tones
The standard Vietnamese language has six tones. Each tone is a meaningful and integral part of the syllable. Every syllable must have a tone. The tones are indicated in conventional Vietnamese spelling by marks placed over (à, ả, ã, á) or under (ạ) single vowels or the vowel in a cluster that bears the main stress.
| VIETNAMESE NAME | TONE MARK | TONE | DESCRIPTION | EXAMPLE | MEANING |
| Không dấu | None | mid-level | Voice starts at middle of normal speaking range and remains at that level | ma | ghost |
| Huyền | à | low-falling | Voice starts fairly low and gradually falls | mà | but |
| Hỏi | ả | low-rising | Voice falls initially then rises slightly | mả | tomb |
| Ngã | ã | high-broken | Voice rises slightly, is cut off abruptly, then rises sharply again | mã | horse |
| Sắc | á | high-rising | Voice starts high and rises sharply | má | cheek |
| Nặng | ạ | low-broken | Voice falls, then cuts off abruptly | mạ | rice seedling |
Basic Vietnamese Grammar
Vietnamese is written in the Roman alphabet and it is usually considered a monosyllabic language. Each single word (or syllable) can be formed by at least a vowel or vowel cluster and consonant and a tone marker. In this introductory basic grammar, we will look at the structural formation of words (single and compound) and sentences.
A. The Vietnamese Alphabet
There are 29 letters in the Vietnamese alphabet.
| I. | Vowels (V): There are 12 vowels: a, ă, â, e, ê, i, y, o, ô, ơ, u, ư. | |||
| II. | Consonants (C): There are 17 single consonants and 11 consonant clusters: | |||
| 1. 17 single consonants: b, c, d, đ, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x. | ||||
| 2. 11 consonant clusters: ch, gh, kh, nh, ph, th, ng, ngh, gi, tr, qu. | ||||
| 3. Final consonants: only 8 can appear in the final position: p, c, m, n, t, ch, nh, ng. | ||||
| III. | Tone markers (T) | |||
| There are six tones, but only five tone markers. Four of them are put above and one under a vowel or a vowel cluster. | ||||
| TONE MARKER | NAME | EXAMPLE | MEANING | |
| a à ả ã á ạ | dấu ngang dấu huyền dầu hỏi dấu ngã dấu sắc dấu nặng | ma mà mả mã má mạ | ghost which tomb horse cheek rice seedling |
B. Word Forms
Single words:
A Vietnamese single word can be formed in one of the following four ways:
| a. | A vowel or vowel cluster with or without a tone marker. | ||
| Examples: | ô! | (oh!) | |
| ai | (who) | ||
| áo | (shirt) | ||
| b. | A vowel or vowel cluster with or without a tone marker plus a final consonant. | ||
| Examples: | ăn | (to eat) | |
| uống | (to drink) | ||
| ấm | (warm) | ||
| c. | An initial consonant plus a vowel or vowel cluster with or without tone markers. | ||
| Examples: | da | (skin) | |
| dạ | (yes) | ||
| dao | (knife) | ||
| d. | An initial consonant plus a vowel or vowel cluster with or without tone markers and a final consonant. | ||
| Examples: | cơm | (cooked rice) | |
| thương | (to love) | ||
| soạn | (to prepare) | ||
| buồn | (sad) |
The following chart is a summary of the structure formation of a single word/syllable:
a. V (T) b. C1V (T) c. V (T) C2 d. C1V (T) C2
Notes:
V is a vowel or vowel cluster.
T is a tone marker.
C1 is an initial consonant.
C2 is a final consonant.
Compound words
Two or more single words join together to form a compound word. There are three kinds of compound words according to semantic criteria.
Conjunctive compound words
A conjunctive compound word is formed by two different single words.
Reduplication compound words
A compound word may be formed by the reduplication of the entire stem, or by a part of it affixed to itself, or by a meaningful single word plus a meaningless structural element.
| Examples: | ||
| SINGLE WORD | COMPOUND WORD | |
| a. | nhỏ | nho nhỏ (slightly small) |
| xanh | xanh xanh (slightly blue) | |
| ngày | ngày ngày (everyday) | |
| b. | nhỏ | nhỏ-nhoi (unimportant) |
| nhanh | nhanh-nhẹn (quickly) | |