Vietnamese/Vowels

Vietnamese Vowels

Vowels	Phoneme	English equivalent sounds
a	/aː/	fat
ă	/a/	cut
â	/ə/	person
e	/ɛ/	pet
ê	/e/	may
i or y	/i/	bee
o	/ɔ/	saw
ô	/o/	spoke
ơ	/ə:/	hurt
u	/u/	boo
ư	/ɨ/	good

examples

• a like 'a' in "father": ba, cha
• ă like 'a' in "father", except said very quickly: chăn
• â like 'u' in "hut", except shorter: sân, chân
• e like 'eah' in "yeah": che, me
• ê like the Canadian English "eh": cà phê, cá trê
• i like 'ee' in "see" or "deed": pin, xin
• o like "awwwww...", but not quite as long: lý do, quả nho
• ô like the first component of the diphthong 'ow' in "low": á-lô, cái ô
• ơ like â, except longer: bơ, bài thơ
• u like 'oo' in "hoop": Na Uy, Mùa Thu
• ư like 'oo' in "book", with a hint of the 'i' in "lick": lá thư, giống như