If you ask any learner what the hardest part of learning Vietnamese is, they’ll almost always give you the same answer:

Tones.

Vietnamese is a tonal language. This means that the pitch of your voice changes the meaning of a word completely.

In English, if you say the word “No” with a rising voice (like a question: “No?”), or a falling voice (like a statement: “No.”), the meaning of the word itself doesn’t change. It’s still just “No.”

In Vietnamese, if you change the pitch, you change the word entirely.

While it takes practice, the tones are actually quite logical.

Once you learn to recognize the symbol and the sound associated with it, reading and speaking becomes much easier.

In this guide, I’ll break down the 6 Vietnamese tones (and how they differ in the South), so you can start speaking with confidence.

Why tones are so important

To understand why you need to master tones, let’s look at the most famous example in the Vietnamese language: the word Ma.

Depending on which tone mark (diacritic) you put on the vowel ‘a’, you get six completely different words.

As you can see, mixing up your tones could lead you to calling your mother a ghost, or a horse!

The 6 Vietnamese tones explained

In standard Northern Vietnamese (which is what you usually hear on news broadcasts or textbooks), there are 6 distinct tones.

Let’s look at each one.

1. Mid Level Tone (Thanh Ngang)

Symbol: No mark Sound: Flat and high-mid range.

This is the “default” tone. There is no accent mark written over the vowel.

To pronounce this, keep your voice flat and even. Do not go up, do not go down. It should sound a bit robotic or like you are singing a single musical note.

2. Low Falling Tone (Thanh Huyền)

Symbol: Grave accent (\ ) Sound: Starts low and goes lower.

I call this the “lazy” tone. Imagine you are very tired and you let out a heavy sigh. Your voice naturally starts a bit low and drags downward. It is soft and relaxed.

3. High Rising Tone (Thanh Sắc)

Symbol: Acute accent (/ ) Sound: Starts high and goes higher rapidly.

This tone sounds urgent. It is sharp and quick. Imagine someone pinched your arm and you shouted “Hey!” in a high pitch. Your voice shoots upward toward the ceiling.

4. Low Rising / Asking Tone (Thanh Hỏi)

Symbol: Hook (? ) Sound: Dips down, then comes back up.

This is often called the “question” tone because the symbol looks like a question mark without the dot.

In the standard Northern accent, your voice starts mid-range, drops down low, and then rises back up slightly at the end. It is a “dipping” motion.

5. High Broken Tone (Thanh Ngã)

Symbol: Tilde (~ ) Sound: High pitch, a break in the middle, then high again.

This is usually the hardest tone for foreigners to learn in the Northern accent.

It starts high, then your throat closes for a split second (a glottal stop), and then it rises immediately again. It sounds a bit like when you say “Uh-oh” in English - that stoppage of air in the middle is key.

6. Heavy / Dot Tone (Thanh Nặng)

Symbol: Dot below (. ) Sound: Starts low and drops abruptly.

This tone is very short and heavy. You start low and immediately cut off the sound. It feels like you are dropping a heavy rock on the floor. Thud.

Northern vs. Southern variations

If you are learning Vietnamese to travel to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) or the Mekong Delta, you should know that the tones sound different there.

The biggest difference is that Southern Vietnamese effectively only has 5 tones.

Here is how they change:

1. The “Hỏi” and “Ngã” Merger

In the South, the Asking Tone (Hỏi) and the Broken Tone (Ngã) sound almost exactly the same. They both sound like a low, dipping tone. The distinct “glottal stop” or “break” found in the Northern Ngã tone disappears in the South.

This actually makes learning Southern Vietnamese slightly easier for beginners, because you have one less tone to worry about distinguishing!

2. The “Sắc” and “Nặng” Tones

In the South, the Heavy Tone (Nặng) doesn’t stop quite as abruptly as in the North, but it is still very low. The Rising Tone (Sắc) is largely the same but can feel a bithigher in pitch in the North.

3. The “Ngang” and “Huyền” Tones

These are mostly consistent across the country.

Tips for practicing tones

Learning tones takes time. You are training muscles in your throat that you aren’t used to using for language. Here are my top tips to get better:

1. Listen before you speak

You cannot pronounce a sound you cannot hear. Spend time listening to Vietnamese podcasts or YouTube videos. Try to identify which tone is being used without looking at the text.

2. Exaggerate the sounds

When you practice alone, over-act.

If it is a Rising Tone (Sắc), make your voice go extremely high. If it is a Falling Tone (Huyền), make it long and lazy. It might feel silly, but this muscle memory helps you speak clearly later on.

3. Use your hands

This is a classic technique. When you say the word, move your hand in the shape of the tone mark.

• For Huyền (\), move your hand down.
• For Sắc (/), jerk your hand up.
• For Ngang, move your hand flat across.

Connecting physical movement to the sound helps your brain remember the pitch.

4. Don’t whisper

Tones are carried by vowels and the vibration of your vocal cords. It is very hard to hear tones when you whisper. Practice at a normal or loud volume.

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Don’t let the tones scare you away from learning Vietnamese.

Everyone makes mistakes with them at first - even Vietnamese children learning to speak! If you say the wrong tone and people look confused, just smile and try again.

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