[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":306},["ShallowReactive",2],{"article-en-vietnamese-accent-marks":3,"series-en-vietnamese-accent-marks":257,"free-tools-en":263},{"id":4,"title":5,"alternates":6,"body":9,"chip":222,"cluster":223,"description":224,"extension":225,"faq":226,"keyword":245,"meta":246,"navigation":247,"path":248,"pillar":247,"seo":249,"sources":250,"stem":254,"updated":255,"__hash__":256},"blog_en\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-accent-marks.md","Vietnamese Accent Marks Explained: Tones, Hats and Hooks",{"fr":7,"de":8},"tons-vietnamien","vietnamesische-toene",{"type":10,"value":11,"toc":211},"minimark",[12,16,21,26,49,53,62,68,72,75,79,83,92,95,102,106,119,123,138,141,156,160,163,167,170,174,177,180,183],[13,14,15],"p",{},"You already hear the tones. On paper, the little marks get in the way. Here they are, sorted out in five\nminutes, and every example plays in a Southern or Northern voice.",[17,18],"vi-sentence",{"gloss":19,"text":20},"“I could read grandma's letter.” Each colour is a tone.","Con đã đọc được lá thư của bà.",[22,23,25],"h2",{"id":24},"two-kinds-of-marks","Two kinds of marks",[13,27,28,29,33,34,33,37,40,41,44,45,48],{},"A ",[30,31,32],"strong",{},"hat",", a ",[30,35,36],{},"breve",[30,38,39],{},"horn"," or a ",[30,42,43],{},"bar"," makes a different letter. Five other marks give the ",[30,46,47],{},"tone",".\nThey stack on the same vowel.",[50,51],"mark-anatomy",{"words":52},"việt người đẹp ăn",[13,54,55,56,61],{},"So ệ is not one strange sign: it's the letter ê, plus the dot of nặng. All 29 letters are on\n",[57,58,60],"a",{"href":59},"\u002Ftools\u002Falphabet","the alphabet",".",[63,64,65],"blockquote",{},[13,66,67],{},"“Hook” means two things: the horn of ơ and ư belongs to the letter, the hook above (hỏi) is a tone.",[22,69,71],{"id":70},"_6-tones-5-marks","6 tones, 5 marks",[13,73,74],{},"Ngang has no mark. Press ▶ to hear each one.",[76,77],"tone-marks",{"base":78},"ma",[22,80,82],{"id":81},"same-letters-six-words","Same letters, six words",[13,84,85,86,91],{},"The mark alone changes the word. You probably know ",[87,88],"vi",{"w":89,":gloss":90},"má","true"," already.",[93,94],"tone-tree",{"base":78},[13,96,97,98,61],{},"More of them, with real everyday words: ",[57,99,101],{"href":100},"\u002Fblog\u002Fsame-word-different-tones","same word, different tones",[22,103,105],{"id":104},"where-the-mark-goes","Where the mark goes",[13,107,108,109,112,113,112,116,61],{},"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):\n",[87,110],{"w":111},"tiếng",", ",[87,114],{"w":115},"muốn",[87,117],{"w":118},"người",[22,120,122],{"id":121},"the-shortcut-p-t-c-ch","The shortcut: p, t, c, ch",[13,124,125,126,129,130,133,134,137],{},"A word ending in ",[30,127,128],{},"p, t, c or ch"," takes only two tones: ",[30,131,132],{},"sắc"," or ",[30,135,136],{},"nặng",". Two choices instead of six.",[93,139],{"base":140},"nước",[13,142,143,144,112,147,112,150,112,153,61],{},"Check it: ",[87,145],{"w":146},"đẹp",[87,148],{"w":149},"học",[87,151],{"w":152},"một",[87,154],{"w":155},"sách",[22,157,159],{"id":158},"hỏi-and-ngã-one-sound-in-the-south","Hỏi and ngã: one sound in the South",[13,161,162],{},"In a Southern accent, hỏi and ngã sound the same. Only the spelling tells them apart. Switch the accent and\nlisten.",[164,165],"sound-pairs",{"pairs":166},"sửa\u002Fsữa nghỉ\u002Fnghĩ bảo\u002Fbão",[13,168,169],{},"Neither accent is wrong. If your family speaks Southern, reading is how you'll learn which word takes which mark.",[22,171,173],{"id":172},"why-its-hard-when-you-already-speak-it","Why it's hard when you already speak it",[13,175,176],{},"You don't need to learn to hear tones: you already do. What's missing is the other way round, from a written\nsyllable to the tone in your head.",[13,178,179],{},"The fast track: one word you know per rhyme. It unlocks every word that shares it. Try it:",[181,182],"try-family",{},[13,184,185,186,190,191,195,196,200,201,205,206,210],{},"Want the full picture? ",[57,187,189],{"href":188},"\u002F#demo","Read a sentence with your own anchors",". Next: ",[57,192,194],{"href":193},"\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-spelling-rules","Vietnamese spelling rules","\nand ",[57,197,199],{"href":198},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-pronounce-nguyen","how to pronounce Nguyen",". Letters that look alike: ",[57,202,204],{"href":203},"\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-a-breve-vs-circumflex","ă vs â",".\nType every mark on the ",[57,207,209],{"href":208},"\u002Ftools\u002Ftelex","free Telex keyboard",": s f r x j at the end of the syllable.",{"title":212,"searchDepth":213,"depth":213,"links":214},"",2,[215,216,217,218,219,220,221],{"id":24,"depth":213,"text":25},{"id":70,"depth":213,"text":71},{"id":81,"depth":213,"text":82},{"id":104,"depth":213,"text":105},{"id":121,"depth":213,"text":122},{"id":158,"depth":213,"text":159},{"id":172,"depth":213,"text":173},null,"marks","Five tone marks, four letter marks and one shortcut for words ending in p, t, c or ch. Hear every example in a Southern or Northern voice.","md",[227,230,233,236,239,242],{"q":228,"a":229},"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.",{"q":231,"a":232},"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.",{"q":234,"a":235},"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.",{"q":237,"a":238},"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.",{"q":240,"a":241},"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.",{"q":243,"a":244},"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",{},true,"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-accent-marks",{"title":5,"description":224},[251,252,253],"Every example plays a recording of that exact syllable in a Southern or a Northern voice (AI voices from vietsyllables.com, hosted with the author's permission).","Which tone variants are real words is checked against our dictionary of {dictionary_words} words: after p, t, c or ch only two branches exist, and some are not words at all.","The Southern hỏi = ngã merger comes from our accent model, confirmed by a native Southern teacher (October 2026).","en\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-accent-marks","2026-10-22","i3T3tvc2T9bkXdPKZ1JEXMiqRexD-8STqLDsfe89NrQ",[258,262],{"path":259,"title":260,"pillar":261},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fsame-word-different-tones","Vietnamese Words That Change With One Mark",false,{"path":248,"title":5,"pillar":247},[264,268,271,274,277,280,281,285,286,289,292,294,297,300,303],{"path":265,"cluster":266,"chip":267,"pillar":261},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-pronounce-nguyen","pronounce","Nguyễn",{"path":269,"cluster":266,"chip":270,"pillar":261},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-pronounce-pho","phở",{"path":272,"cluster":273,"chip":222,"pillar":247},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-read-vietnamese","read",{"path":275,"cluster":266,"chip":276,"pillar":261},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-say-thank-you-in-vietnamese","cảm ơn",{"path":278,"cluster":279,"chip":222,"pillar":247},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Flearn-southern-vietnamese","accents",{"path":259,"cluster":223,"chip":222,"pillar":261},{"path":282,"cluster":283,"chip":284,"pillar":247},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-a-breve-vs-circumflex","sounds","ă \u002F â",{"path":248,"cluster":223,"chip":222,"pillar":247},{"path":287,"cluster":283,"chip":288,"pillar":261},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-d-vs-dd","d \u002F đ",{"path":290,"cluster":266,"chip":291,"pillar":261},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-food-pronunciation","bánh mì",{"path":293,"cluster":273,"chip":222,"pillar":261},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-for-heritage-speakers",{"path":295,"cluster":266,"chip":296,"pillar":247},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-names","Thủy \u002F Thuỷ",{"path":298,"cluster":283,"chip":299,"pillar":261},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-nh-vs-ng","nh \u002F ng",{"path":301,"cluster":302,"chip":222,"pillar":247},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-spelling-rules","writing",{"path":304,"cluster":283,"chip":305,"pillar":261},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fvietnamese-tr-vs-ch","tr \u002F ch",1793180055613]