Welcome to new level of learning Vietnamese! Guess you’ve been waiting for the whole week and so excited to the new lesson.

As we started with vowels then consonants, from this lesson, we will also begin with diphthongs and triphthongs (vowel combination), then consonant combination and finally mixed combinations. See changes have come from lesson with higher level. There is only one pronunciation for each combination (thanks God!) and 3 examples consisting of 2 or more words will be provided.

Ok, let’s get started!

Lesson ９: Vietnamese diphthongs with A

A is the starting letter of the alphabet, A is a vowel and A appears in several diphthongs. So it’s perfect to start our new level with A :

1/ai

Hai Tai (Two eras)

Bò Tái (Half-raw beef)

Tai hại (disastrous)

2/ay

Hai Tay (two hands)

Máy bay (Air plane)

Máy may (Sewing machine)

Despite the fact that “i” and “y” are homo-phonetic, they make different pronunciations when combined with other vowels. “ai” is just like “i” in “mine” when “ay” sounds like “a” in “play”.

3/ao

Chào mào (Red-whispered bulbul)

Báo cáo (report)

Cải tạo (to improve)

4/au

Màu máu (blood color)

Táo Tàu (dried Chinese apples)

Rau cải (vegetable)

Opposite to the pair of “ai” and “ay”, “o” and “u” are different letters producing different sound individually but when combined with ”a”, their pronunciations are slightly different. What makes it more dramatic is that Southerners pronounce them absolutely similar (both sounds like “ao”), so you have no choice but to depend on the content to get the meaning.

But hey, don’t panic! All examples in VinaPronucia always ensure that you will learn the differences and correct pronunciations for each letter or letter combination and there is no bias to Northern or Southern accents. Stick with us and see your improvement.

As the lessons are getting harder, it’s recommended that you practice more often to get the optimum of your learning. Watching Vietnamese movie with subtitles (in Vietnamese!) or listening to music while reading lyrics can help more than you think.

That’s all for today!

See you next week!

Chào!