Learning to speak a few words of local language while on your trip is always fun and greatly improve your experience. Let’s learn some words/phrases of Vietnamese while preparing your trip and you will have chance to talk/chat, make friends – however briefly – with the majority of locals who might not know your language and also give you a far greater appreciation of the Vietnamese culture. Below are some easy and popular phrases which I think will enhance your enjoyment, if you are interested to know a little more about our language, you can download here the phrasebook to sharpen your skills.

Simple Phrases

At the very minimum it is important to at least know how to say ‘Hello’ and ‘Thank you’ – it takes moments to learn yet can make a big impression, as you will already know more than 90% of travelers arriving in Vietnam.

Hello. Xin chào. (sin chow)
Hi. Chào. (chow)
How are you? Khỏe không? (kweh kohng?)
Fine, thank you. Khoẻ, cảm ơn. (kweh, gauhm uhhn)
What is your name? Bạn tên là gì? (ban ten la zee)?
My name is ______ . Tôi tên là ______ . (Toy ten la _____ .)
Please. Làm ơn. (lam uhhn)
Thank you. Cảm ơn. (gauhm uhhn)
You’re welcome. Không sao đâu. (kohng sao dwoh)
Yes (affirmative). Vâng (vuhng)
Yes (affirmative, respectful). Dạ (Northern : zah, Southern : yah)
Yes (correct). Đúng (doong)
No. Không. (kaumng)
I’m sorry. Xin lỗi. (sin loy)
Goodbye. Tạm biệt (tam byet)
I can’t speak Vietnamese [well]. Tôi không biết nói tiếng Việt [giỏi lắm]. (thoy kohng byet noy tyeng vyet [zoy luhm])
Do you speak English? Bạn biết nói tiếng Anh không? (ban byet noy tyeng ang kaumng)
Is there someone here who speaks English? Có ai đây biết nói tiếng Anh không? (GAW eye day byet noy tyeng ang kaumng)
Help! Cứu (tôi) với! (gih-OO (thoy) vuh-y!)
Look out! Cẩn thận! (guhn tuh’n!)
Good night (to sleep). Chúc ngủ ngon. (chook ngoo ngawn)
I don’t understand. Tôi không hiểu. (toy kohng hugh)
Where is the toilet? (formal and common): Nhà vệ sinh/wc ở đâu?
Be back soon. Sẽ quay lại sớm (se-ay kway lie-ay sohm)

Addressing people

For Vietnamese people it is important to use the correct form of address than signifies your age and relationship to the person you are speaking to. In general, when talking to someone younger than you you may call them ‘Em’, or if you think you are younger than them you may call yourself ‘Em’ and use a range of pronouns based on the other person’s gender and age.

As a traveller however it is acceptable to ‘cheat’ and use a generic ‘Tôi’ for ‘I’ and ‘Ban’ for ‘Friend’, rather than finding the correct form of address – this is not disrespectful and will help you make yourself understood.

Pronunciation

Like the majority of South East and East Asian languages, Vietnam is a tonal language. This means that for each syllable there are six different tones that can change the meaning of a phrase.

Tones

*This tone is very strong in the North around Hanoi where there is a perceptible ‘cut’ in the sound. In the South around Saigon people tend to speak in a more ‘smooth’ manner, and many would say this tone becomes almost identical to the low, rising tone above it (‘Ye-es, M’lud”)

Vietnamese Alphabet

Although the Vietnamese use the same alphabet as Latin languages such as English and French, some of the sounds are fairly different to their English equivalent. There are a few similarities with French, however.

Consonants

Vowels

One rule to pronouncing vowels in Vietnam that is very useful to remember is that whenever you get two vowels together – for example ‘ui’ – the first vowel should have much more emphasis than the second – ‘ui’

More useful phrases

You can now pronounce most of the words, remember these useful phrases below.

At the restaurant

Getting Around

Numbers, times + dates

Vietnamese numbers are quite easy to follow, as higher numbers use the same words as lower – for example, twenty five would be expressed as ‘Two Ten Five’, or 365 as ‘Three Hundred Six Ten Five’. This means that once you have learnt to count from one to ten other numbers are pretty easy.

There is one irregularity with numbers: since the word for 5 (Nam) is the same as for year(s) (Nam) it changes to ‘Lam’ avoid confusion, for example:

5 – Năm

20 years – Hai Mươi Năm

25 – Hai Mươi Lăm

55 – Năm Mươi Lăm

55 years – Năm Mươi Lăm Năm

Money

Since money in Vietnam is demarcated in thousands it is acceptable to skip the ‘thousand dong’ when negotiating prices, or to use slang. Do note though that ‘Chuc’ is used more in the south and may not be recognised in the north.

Units of Time

Days of the week

Shopping

A favourite activity for many travellers to Vietnam is shopping. With a huge range of unique crafts available Vietnam is a great place to find souvenirs, and thanks to cheap prices and very talented tailors it is also a popular place to have clothes made. By sprinkling some Vietnamese into your shopping not only will it be easier to get things you want but you may even get some better bargains too. Don’t forget to take a look at our section on dates, numbers and money too.