Tones in Vietnamese Language

Tones in English are used to express the feelings of speakers or writers; Vietnamese Tones affects the meaning of the word itself.

There are six tones in Vietnamese as follows:

Sắc is high and rising
Symbol: ´
Example: You can see it in Sắc, Đá (stone or kick); Táo (apple)

Ngã: high and rising like Sắc; however, it pauses and last a little bit longer.
Symbol: ˜ : 
Example: You can see it in Ngã, Bão (storm); sữa (Milk), cũng (likewise)

Ngang tone is lax;
Symbol: there is no mark above or below the words
Example: Ba (three); Răng (tooth); Nhanh (fast)

Note: ˇ as in sắc and ˆ as in Một or mập are not tones. they are a part of a vowel letter in Vietnamese such as Ê, Ô, Â, Ă,

Huyền: is also lax, starts quite low and strails downward toward the bottom of the voice range.
Symbol: ˋ 
Example: Thuyền (boat), bà (grandpa); nhà (House)

Hỏi tone is tense; it starts somewhat higher than Huyền and drops rather abruptly.
Symbol: ˀ  
Example: mỏi (tired); tỏi (garlic); giỏi (talented);

Nặng is also tense; it starts somewhat lower than Hỏi.
Symbol: . ; this tone is placed under the vowel letters or under Y that stands alone.
Example: Nặng (Heavy); Mạnh (Strong); quỵ ( as in đột quỵ - Stroke)

Compare the meaning of the word when we change the tones.

Nha: Chinese based word: Means dental
Nhà: Huyền Tone is added: it means a house
Nhá: A exclamation word, like please or reminder
Nhã : as in nhã nhặn (Polite)
Nhạ : (no meaning)
Nhả : (Release)

Tones are used to change the meaning of the word root. Please try to learn and use them regularly.