Exactly we have 6 tones: thanh ngang (example: ba: three), thanh sắc (bá: to hug), thanh huyền (bà: grandmother), thanh hỏi (bả: bane), thanh ngã (bã: residue), thanh nặng (bạ: haphazardly).
When we use different tones we have different meaning.
There are 29 letters in the Vietnamese alphabet system which consists of 12 vowels and 17 consonants
- There have 12 vowels: a, ă, â, e, ê, i, o, ô, ơ, u, ư, y
- From 12 vowels, we have diphthong: ai, ay, ao, au, ây, âu, eo, êu, oi, oa, ôi, ơi, ui, uy, uô, ua, uâ, uơ, ưi, ưu, ưa, ươ, iu, ia, iê, yê
- From 12 vowels, we have tripthong: oai, oay, oeo, uôi, uyê, ươi, ươu, iêu, yêu.
- There have 17 consonants: b, c, d, đ, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x
- From 17 consanants, we have 11 consonants clusters: ch, gh, gi, kh, nh, ng, ngh, ph, th, tr, qu
- From 17 consanants, we have 8 final consonents: c, ch, m, n, nh, ng, p, t
- The dipthongs can be combine with a final consonants:
+ uy (uy_ch: uych, uy_nh: uynh, uy_t: uyt)
+ uô (uô_c: uôc, uô_m: uôm, uô_n: uôn, uô_ng: uông, uô_t: uôt)
+ uâ (uâ_n: uân, uâ_ng: uâng, uâ_t: uât)
+ uyê (uyê_n: uyên, uyê_t: uyêt)
+ oa (oa_c: oac, oa_ch: oach, oa_n: oan, oa_nh: oanh, oa_ng: oang, oa_t: oat)
+ ươ (ươ_c: ươc, ươ_m: ươm, ươ_n: ươn, ươ_ng: ương, ươ_p: ươp, ươ_t: ươt)
+ iê (iê_c: iêc, iê_m: iêm, iê_n: iên, iê_ng: iêng, iê_p: iêp, iê_t: iêt)
+ yê (yê_n: yên, yê_t: yêt)
A word can combine from:
- 1 vowels: o (in central of Vietnam o = cô = aunt)
- 1 vowel + 1 final consonant: an toàn = safe (an: a is vowel, n is final consonant)
- 1 consonant cluster + 1 vowel: cà chua = tomato (cà: c is consonant cluster, a is vowel, thanh huyền `)
- 1 consonant cluster + 1 vowel + 1 final consonant: bán = sell (bán: b is consonant cluster, a is vowel, n is final consonant, thanh sắc ‘ )
Hope it helps