Vietnamese alphabet chart with pictures
29 letters · tap 🔊 to hear each one.
| Picture | Letter | Word | Meaning | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | A | áo | shirt | |
 | Ă | ăn | eat | |
 | Â | ấm | kettle | |
 | B | bò | cow | |
 | C | cá | fish | |
 | D | dê | goat | |
 | Đ | đèn | lamp | |
 | E | em bé | baby | |
 | Ê | ếch | frog | |
 | G | gà | chicken | |
 | H | hoa | flower | |
| I | viên bi | marble | ||
 | K | kéo | scissors | |
 | L | lá | leaf | |
 | M | mèo | cat | |
 | N | nho | grapes | |
 | O | ong | bee | |
 | Ô | ô | umbrella | |
 | Ơ | ớt | chilli | |
 | P | pin | battery | |
 | Q | quả bóng | ball | |
 | R | rùa | turtle | |
 | S | sao | star | |
 | T | táo | apple | |
 | U | ủng | boots | |
 | Ư | sư tử | lion | |
 | V | voi | elephant | |
 | X | xe đạp | bicycle | |
 | Y | y tá | nurse |
The Vietnamese alphabet for kids has 29 letters. It uses the Latin script, called chữ Quốc ngữ, but adds seven letters of its own, Ă, Â, Đ, Ê, Ô, Ơ and Ư, and leaves out F, J, W and Z. On this page every letter has a picture and a word: A áo (shirt), B bò (cow), C cá (fish), Đ đèn (lamp), M mèo (cat), V voi (elephant). Tap a letter to hear it in clear audio.
The 29 letters at a glance
A Ă Â B C D Đ E Ê G H I K L M N O Ô Ơ P Q R S T U Ư V X Y
There are 12 vowels (nguyên âm): a, ă, â, e, ê, i, o, ô, ơ, u, ư, y, and 17 consonants (phụ âm). The special vowels are easy to hear once you know them:
- Ă is a short "a": ăn (eat).
- Â is a short "uh": ấm (kettle).
- Ê is "ay" as in "say": ếch (frog).
- Ô is "oh": ô (umbrella).
- Ơ is "er" without the r: ớt (chilli).
- Ư is like "oo" with lips spread in a smile: sư tử (lion).
Đ, with a bar, sounds like an English "d", while plain D sounds like "z" in the North and "y" in the South. That surprises many parents. In a few cards, such as viên bi (marble) for I and sư tử for Ư, the letter sits inside the word, because very few Vietnamese words start with those letters.
Letter names or letter sounds?
Vietnamese letters have traditional names (bê, xê, dê), but schools now teach children the sounds: bờ, cờ, dờ, đờ, gờ, hờ, lờ, mờ, nờ. So when a Vietnamese teacher says "bờ a ba", she is blending B and A to make ba. If you learned the old names, that is fine, but using the sound names at home matches what your child will hear in Grade 1.
The five tone marks
On top of the letters, Vietnamese uses five tone marks (dấu thanh); the sixth tone has no mark:
| Mark | Name | Example word |
|---|---|---|
| á | dấu sắc | cá (fish) |
| à | dấu huyền | gà (chicken) |
| ả | dấu hỏi | tử in sư tử (lion) |
| ã | dấu ngã | sữa (milk) |
| ạ | dấu nặng | mạ (rice seedling) |
Children in Grade 1 chant a syllable with every tone: be, bè, bé, bẻ, bẽ, bẹ. At home, just let your child copy the audio. Accurate tones come from lots of listening, not rules.
Letter pairs to know
Vietnamese spelling uses several letter pairs and one triple: ch, gh, gi, kh, ng, ngh, nh, ph, qu, th, tr. There are neat spelling rules that Grade 1 teaches: k, gh and ngh are used before i, e, ê (kéo, ghế, nghé), while c, g, ng go before other vowels (cá, gà, ngựa).
How to use the alphabet game by age
At 3-4, use Listen only: tap letters in your child's name and enjoy the pictures. At 5, in the lớp Lá year, play Find it: Golu asks for a letter and your child taps it, with gentle hints after a wrong tap. At 6, try Memory and look for letters in books. English learners can compare the English ABCD for kids.
Alphabet play at home
- Hat letters. Draw the "hats" on Â, Ê, Ô and the "beard" on Ơ, Ư; children love these names.
- Play dough. Roll letters and add the marks with little balls.
- Sign spotting. Find letters on phở shop signs and food packets.
- Print this page. The letter chart prints cleanly from your browser for tracing.
Vietnamese teachers often describe the mark on Â, Ê, Ô as a hat (cái mũ) and the hook on Ơ, Ư as a beard (râu). Little pictures like these help children remember which letter is which.
Bảng chữ cái tiếng Việt cho bé
Bảng chữ cái tiếng Việt có 29 chữ cái, từ A đến Y. Trên trang này, mỗi chữ cái đều có hình ảnh và từ minh họa, ví dụ A áo, B bò, C cá, Đ đèn. Bé chạm vào chữ cái để nghe cách đọc.
Ở tuổi mầm non, bé chỉ cần làm quen với mặt chữ qua trò chơi, bài hát và hình ảnh. Ba mẹ có thể gọi chữ Â là chữ đội mũ, chữ Ơ và Ư là chữ có râu để bé dễ nhớ. Việc học ghép vần và dấu thanh sẽ bắt đầu ở lớp 1, nên ba mẹ không cần vội.
Mỗi ngày, hãy cùng bé tìm chữ cái trên biển hiệu, bao bì và sách truyện. Khen bé mỗi khi bé nhận ra một chữ mới.
How to use this page at home
Say it, then find it
Play for a few minutes, then look for the same thing away from the screen: vietnamese words on the shelf, in the kitchen, on the way to school. A child learns a word properly when they meet it twice, once on the screen and once in their hand.
Ten minutes is enough
Short and happy beats long and tired. Stop while your child still wants more, and come back tomorrow: the same page on five short days teaches far more than one long sitting. Nothing here is scored, so there is no reason to push.
Use both languages
Tap the language button at the top to hear the words in your home language first and the second language after. Hearing the same picture named in two languages is one of the few things research agrees builds attention as well as vocabulary.
