Grammar Reference

Vietnamese alphabet: 29 letters with diacritics

Can recognize all 29 Vietnamese letters and understand the difference between standard Latin and Vietnamese-specific letters

6 tones: ngang, sắc, huyền, hỏi, ngã, nặng

Can identify and produce the 6 Vietnamese tones and understand that tone changes word meaning

Vowels: 11 single vowels, diphthongs, and triphthongs

Can distinguish and pronounce all 11 Vietnamese single vowels and common diphthongs

Consonants: single and digraphs (ch, gh, gi, kh, ng, ngh, nh, ph, qu, th, tr)

Can pronounce Vietnamese consonants and digraphs including word-initial NG and the D/Đ distinction

Final consonants (-c, -ch, -m, -n, -ng, -nh, -p, -t) and tone-final interaction

Can produce unreleased final stops and understand tone-final consonant restrictions

Personal pronouns as kinship terms: tôi, bạn, anh, chị, em, ông, bà

Can use appropriate Vietnamese pronouns based on age and social relationship in basic conversations

Basic SVO sentence structure: Tôi là sinh viên

Can form basic SVO sentences in Vietnamese with correct use of là vs direct adjectives

The copula là (to be for identity) — NOT used with adjectives

Can correctly use and omit là in sentences, distinguishing identity statements from descriptions

Question words: ai, gì, đâu, khi nào, thế nào, tại sao, bao nhiêu

Can ask and understand basic questions using Vietnamese question words in their correct position

Negation: không before verb, không phải for là

Can negate verbs, adjectives, and identity statements using không, chưa, and không phải

Cardinal numbers and the mười/mươi distinction

Can count from 0 to 100 in Vietnamese using correct mười/mươi forms and compound number changes

Telling time: mấy giờ?, X giờ Y phút

Can tell and ask the time in Vietnamese using giờ/phút, rưỡi, and time-of-day markers

Days (thứ hai-chủ nhật), months (tháng 1-12), dates

Can name days of the week and months, state dates, and use basic time expressions

Ordinal numbers: thứ nhất, thứ hai...

Can use ordinal numbers in Vietnamese and distinguish thứ nhất/đầu tiên for 'first'

THE key Vietnamese grammar feature: cái, con, người, chiếc, cuốn, etc.

Can use common Vietnamese classifiers (cái, con, người, cuốn) correctly with numbers and demonstratives

Nouns: no plural marking! Use những/các for explicit plural

Can use nouns correctly without plural markers and apply những/các when needed

Demonstratives: này (this), kia/đó (that), ấy (that mentioned)

Can use này/đó/kia/ấy correctly after nouns

Possession with của: sách của tôi = my book

Can express possession using của

Basic verbs: ăn, uống, đi, đến, nói, nghe, đọc, viết, làm, có

Can use 12 essential Vietnamese verbs in basic sentences

Present: verbs don't change — context + time words = tense

Can express present actions using bare verbs

Past with marker đã

Can express past actions using đã

Future with sẽ

Can express future actions using sẽ

Progressive with đang

Can use đang for ongoing actions

Completion with rồi

Can use rồi for completion

Verb negation: không, chưa, đã không, sẽ không

Can negate verbs across tenses

Adjectives after nouns, no là needed

Can use adjectives after nouns

Comparisons: hơn, nhất, bằng

Can make comparisons

Intensifiers: rất, lắm, quá

Can use intensifiers correctly

Colors: xanh = blue AND green!

Can name colors and understand xanh

Location: ở, trên, dưới, trong, ngoài

Can describe locations

Yes/no: Có...không?, statement + không?, verb + chưa?

Can form and answer yes/no questions

Modals: muốn, cần, phải, nên, có thể

Can express modality

Conjunctions: và, hoặc, nhưng, vì...nên, nếu...thì

Can connect sentences

Particles: nhé, nhỉ, à, ạ, đi, nào

Can use particles for tone and politeness

Greetings and goodbyes

Can greet and say goodbye appropriately

Self-introduction: name, age, nationality, job

Can introduce oneself

Restaurant: ordering, prices, bill

Can order food and pay

Survival phrases: Cảm ơn, Xin lỗi, Không sao, Được

Can use survival phrases