Vietnamese is a tonal language. The meaning of each word depends on the “tone” in which it is pronounced.
There are six distinct tones in the standard northern dialect. But in Southern Vietnamese, there is a merging of the hỏi and ngã tones, in effect leaving five basic tones.
| Tiếng Việt | Marker | Example |
English Meaning |
|
| Mid-level tone | Thanh ngang | (unmarked) | ma | Ghost |
| Rising tone | Dấu sắc | ́ | má | Mother |
| Falling tone | Dấu huyền | ̀ | mà | Which |
| Low-falling-rising tone | Dấu hỏi | ̉̉̉ | mả | Tomb |
| High-rising broken tone | Dấu ngã | ̃ | mã | Horse |
| Low-falling broken | Dấu nặng | ̣ | mạ | Rice Seedling |
Chào bạn! Mình tên là Phi. You can call me Hanson :D. I graduated from the University of Pedagogy of Ho Chi Minh City in 2014, my major is English Language Teaching. I have been teaching English for 4 years, and Vietnamese for 3 years to people from all around the world. I am also a voice actor for Vietnamese Dubbing movie, that means my accent is 100.01% Southern Accent. I am very happy to be here to help you learn Vietnamese.
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