How many accent marks does Vietnamese have?

Nine. Five tone marks (acute, grave, hook above, tilde, dot below) and four marks that make a new letter: the hat of â, ê, ô, the breve of ă, the horn of ơ, ư and the bar of đ.

Why does Vietnamese have so many accent marks?

Two jobs at once. The Latin alphabet has 5 vowel letters and Vietnamese needs 12, so hats, breves and horns make the missing ones. On top of that, 6 tones are written with 5 marks.

What are the Vietnamese tone marks called?

Sắc (acute), huyền (grave), hỏi (hook above), ngã (tilde) and nặng (dot below). The sixth tone, ngang, has no mark.

Is the hat on â, ê, ô a tone?

No. The hat makes a different letter, with its own sound. A tone mark can sit on top of it: ế is the letter ê plus the sắc tone.

Why do words ending in p, t, c or ch only have two marks?

After these finals, Vietnamese only allows two tones: sắc or nặng. When you see one, you only have two tones to try.

How do you type the tone marks?

With TELEX, add one key after the word: s for sắc, f for huyền, r for hỏi, x for ngã, j for nặng.

Vietnamese Accent Marks Explained: Tones, Hats and Hooks

You already hear the tones. On paper, the little marks get in the way. Here they are, sorted out in five minutes, and every example plays in a Southern or Northern voice.

Con đã đọc được lá thư của bà.“I could read grandma's letter.” Each colour is a tone.

Two kinds of marks

A hat, a breve, a horn or a bar makes a different letter. Five other marks give the tone. They stack on the same vowel.

việtVietnamese

ệ=êhat+nặng

ngườiperson

ư=ưhorn
ờ=ơhorn+huyền

đẹpbeautiful

đ=đbar
ẹ=eplain letter+nặng

ănto eat

ă=ăbreve

letter of the alphabettone mark

So ệ is not one strange sign: it's the letter ê, plus the dot of nặng. All 29 letters are on the alphabet.

“Hook” means two things: the horn of ơ and ư belongs to the letter, the hook above (hỏi) is a tone.

6 tones, 5 marks

Ngang has no mark. Press ▶ to hear each one.

Mark	Tone	Example	TELEX
—	ngangno mark · level	maghost	—
	huyềngrave accent · low falling	màbut	`f`
	sắcacute accent · high rising	mámom	`s`
	hỏihook above · dipping	mảgrave, tomb	`r`
	ngãtilde · broken rising	mãcode	`x`
	nặngdot below · low, cut short	mạrice seedling	`j`

Same letters, six words

The mark alone changes the word. You probably know mámom already.

mabare syllable

ngangmaghost
huyềnmàbut
sắcmámom
hỏimảgrave, tomb
ngãmãcode
nặngmạrice seedling

More of them, with real everyday words: same word, different tones.

Where the mark goes

Always on a vowel. If a vowel already wears a hat, a breve or a horn, the tone goes on it (in ươ, on the ơ): tiếng, muốn, người.

The shortcut: p, t, c, ch

A word ending in p, t, c or ch takes only two tones: sắc or nặng. Two choices instead of six.

nươcnever written bare

sắcnướcwater
nặngnượcnot a word

Check it: đẹp, học, một, sách.

Hỏi and ngã: one sound in the South

In a Southern accent, hỏi and ngã sound the same. Only the spelling tells them apart. Switch the accent and listen.

sửato fix, repair, correct=sữamilk
nghỉto rest, to take a break=nghĩto think
bảoto tell, order=bãostorm, typhoon

Neither accent is wrong. If your family speaks Southern, reading is how you'll learn which word takes which mark.

Why it's hard when you already speak it

You don't need to learn to hear tones: you already do. What's missing is the other way round, from a written syllable to the tone in your head.

The fast track: one word you know per rhyme. It unlocks every word that shares it. Try it:

Family 1 of 4

bỏ
cỏ
nhỏ
vỏ
đỏ

How many of these 5 words can you read right now?

Want the full picture? Read a sentence with your own anchors. Next: Vietnamese spelling rules and how to pronounce Nguyen. Letters that look alike: ă vs â. Type every mark on the free Telex keyboard: s f r x j at the end of the syllable.