Tone and Tone Marks – Basic Vietnamese

1. General Overview

Vietnamese is a tonal language with 6 tones and 5 tone marks. They are:

• Thanh ngang
• Thanh sắc – Dấu sắc
• Thanh huyền – Dấu huyền
• Thanh chất vấn – Dấu hỏi
• Thanh té – Dấu ngã
• Thanh nặng trĩu – Dấu nặng trĩu

The word “Thanh” refers lớn the tone, while “Dấu” means Marks and refers lớn how the tone is indicated when writing. This means there is no mark for Thanh ngang.

When writing tone marks in a word, make sure lớn put them on a vowel, not a consonant:

• If there is only one vowel, the tone mark is put on that vowel
  
• If there are two or three vowels, but no consonant at the kết thúc, the tone mark is put on the second lớn last vowel
  
• If there are two or three vowels, and there is a consonant at the kết thúc, the tone mark is put on the last vowel
  

2. Pitches and Formation

There are various ways lớn translate the name of these tones. The table below combines two approaches; one is the literal translation, and the other is based on the pitches when forming the tone:

Listen lớn this audio tệp tin that demonstrates the pitch of the tones.

The diagram below shows the pitch level when forming the tones:

source: svff.info

3. Importance of Tones and Tone Marks

The use of tones is extremely important, as a different tone may cause the word lớn have an entirely new meaning. For example:

• Ma = Ghost
• Mà = But
• Má = Mother/Cheek
• Mả = Grave
• Mã = Horse (Chinese origin), Appearance
• Mạ = Young rice stalk, Coating

Or:

• Ba = Three, Father
• Bà = Grandmother, Mrs.
• Bá = Super, Aunt
• Bả = Poison
• Bã = Residue
• Bạ = Indiscriminate

4. Confusing Tone Pairs

Thanh sắc vs. Thanh ngã

Thanh sắc: The High Rising Tone

• To create this tone, imagine you are very surprised and are asking people “what?” with a rising, even screeching tone.
• The air should flow freely in your throat as you gradually raise your voice.
• Examples of Thanh sắc:
  Nói – Sáng – Tốt – Tối – Đúng – Phút
  

Thanh ngã: The Rising-broken Tone

• To create this tone, you must first partially close the pharynx (the throat) lớn restrict the airflow.
• Then raise your voice the same way with Thanh sắc.
• Due lớn the restricted airflow, it will sound lượt thích you are struggling lớn speak. In other words, the sound will seem broken, rather than thở smooth.
• Examples of Thanh ngã:
  Chữ – Sẽ – Mỹ – Rưỡi – Bữa – Mỗi
  

Thanh ngang vs. Thanh huyền

Thanh ngang: The Mid-level Tone

• To create this tone, widely open your throat lớn let the air flow freely.
• Keep your voice at a constant and monotonous level. You can choose lớn keep it at a middle or high level.
• Do not lower your voice even at the kết thúc of a word.
• Examples of Thanh ngang:
  Tên – Ngôn – Anh – Trưa – Đêm – Chơi
  

Thanh huyền: The Low-falling Tone

• This is perhaps the easiest tone lớn produce for English speakers.
• To create this tone, gradually lower your voice lớn a middle level, lượt thích you often bởi at the kết thúc of a word or a sentence in English.
• The air should be able lớn flow freely at first, then gradually becomes restricted.
• Examples of Thanh huyền:
  Chào – Người – Giờ – Ngành – Bài – Đường
  

Thanh chất vấn vs. Thanh nặng

Thanh hỏi: The Low-rising Tone

• In Vietnamese, “Hỏi” means “Question”, which somewhat reflects the nature of this tone, as it sounds lượt thích someone is unsure and is reconfirming information.
• To produce this sound, you should open your pharynx (the throat) lớn allow the air lớn flow freely.
• Keep your voice at a mid-level at the beginning.
• Block the flow of air through your nose as you gradually lower your tone.
• Only let the air flow out from your mouth! A trick is lớn pinch your nose when practicing the tone.
• Examples of Thanh hỏi:
  Hỏi – Hả – Phải – Nhỉ – Của – Chỉ
  

Thanh nặng: The Low-dropping Tone

• In Vietnamese, “Nặng” means heavy, which explains why this is the heaviest tone in the language.
• To create this tone, keep your tone as low as possible at the beginning.
• Stop the airflow with your throat, only let a tiny fraction of the air escape from your pharynx.
• In fact, as long as you can stop the airflow, you will produce the Heavy tone, no matter how high you start your voice at.
• Examples of Thanh nặng:
  Mạ – Một – Nặng – Mệt – Chị – Mẹ
  

Activities

Let’s have some practice: