Tone Marks

Vietnamese is a tonal language. Accents are used to denote six distinctive tones: “level” (ngang), “acute-angry” (sắc), “grave-lowering” (huyền), “smooth-rising” hỏi, “chesty-raised” (ngã), and “chesty-heavy” (nặng).¹ In writing, one tone is represented as unmarked (a), four are indicated with diacritics marked on a vowel (á, à, ả, and ã), and one is marked with a dot under a vowel (ạ). Let’s break down these individual tone marks.

Unmarked

An unmarked tone (ngang) has no accent. Its pitch ranges from mid to high-mid.

Acute

An acute (dấu sắc) is a forward-slash accent placed on vowels: á, é, í, ó, ú, and ý. An acute, which starts from a narrow bottom and ends with a wide top, denotes a high rising pitch. It should rise slightly toward the right of the base character (á) without falling off. When combined, it must be positioned clearly from another mark (ắ, ấ, ế, ố, ớ, or ứ).

á é í ó ú ý á é í ó ú ý á é í ó ú ý á é í ó ú ý ắ ấ ế ố ớ ứ ắ ấ ế ố ớ ứ ắ ấ ế ố ớ ứ ắ ấ ế ố ớ ứ

Grave

A grave (dấu huyền) is a backward-slash accent placed on vowels: à, è, ì, ò, ù, and ỳ. A grave, which starts from a wide top and ends with a narrow bottom, denotes a low pitch. It should rise slightly toward the left of the base character (à) without falling off. When combined, it must be positioned clearly from another mark (ằ, ầ, ề, ồ, ờ, or ừ).

à è ì ò ù ỳ à è ì ò ù ỳ à è ì ò ù ỳ à è ì ò ù ỳ ằ ầ ề ồ ờ ừ ằ ầ ề ồ ờ ừ ằ ầ ề ồ ờ ừ ằ ầ ề ồ ờ ừ

Unmarked

Acute

Grave

Hook above

Tilde

Underdot