Master grammar with comprehensive explanations and examples
The Vietnamese alphabet has 29 letters: no F, J, W or Z, seven extra letters, and six tones on top
Can recognize all 29 Vietnamese letters, tell a letter-forming diacritic (ă â ê ô ơ ư đ) apart from a tone mark, and read all six tone marks on a syllable
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
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