Vietnamese is ananalytic language, meaning it conveys grammatical information primarily through combinations of words as opposed to affixes. The basic word order issubject-verb-object (SVO), but utterances may be restructured so as to betopic-prominent. Vietnamese also hasverb serialization. In sentences, the head of the phrase usually precedes its complements (i.e.head-initial), nouns are classified according to series of lexical parameters (noun classifier system), and pronouns may be absent from utterances (pro-drop, sometimes withoutcopula verbs). Question words in the languagedo not exhibit wh-movement.
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Vietnameselexical categories (or "parts of speech") consist of:
The syntax of each lexical category and its associatedphrase (i.e., the syntacticconstituents below thesentence level) is detailed below. Attention is paid to both form andfunction.
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Nouns can be distinguished from verbs syntactically in that thecopulalà "to be" may precede nouns inpredications, whereas the copula fails to occur before verbs or adjectives.
For the meaning of the sentence to be understandable, in the sentence above the copulalà precedessinh viên "student". Omitting the copula, as in *Mai sinh viên results in anungrammatical sentence.[1] In contrast, verbs/adjectives do not co-occur with the copula.
The adjectivecao (as in the sentence above) does not require a preceding copula, and thus the sentence *Mai là cao is ill-formed.
The noun category can be further subdivided into different noun classes according to semantic and syntactic criteria. Some of the subclasses identified in Nguyễn (1997) include:
Nouns can bemodified with other words resulting in complexnoun phrases. These modifiers include demonstratives, quantifiers, classifiers, prepositional phrases, and other attributive lexical words, such as other nouns and verbs. These modifiers co-occur with the modified noun (known as the head noun or noun phrase head), but there are restrictions on what kind of modifiers are allowed depending upon the subclass of noun. The noun phrase has the following structure:
| TOTALITY | + | ARTICLE | + | QUANTIFIER | + | CLASSIFIER | + | HEAD NOUN | + | ATTRIBUTIVE MODIFIER(S) | + | DEMONSTRATIVE | + | PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE (possessive) |
|---|
Example:
cả
all
TOTALITY
hai
two
QUANTIFIER
từ điển
dictionary
HEAD NOUN
Việt Anh
Vietnamese-English
ATTRIBUTIVE NOUN PHRASE
cả hai cuốn {từ điển} {Việt Anh} này {của [nó]}
all two CLFbook dictionary Vietnamese-English PROX.DEM {of [3.PN]}
TOTALITYQUANTIFIERCLASSIFIERHEAD NOUNATTRIBUTIVE NOUN PHRASEDEMONSTRATIVEPREP PHRASE
"both of these Vietnamese-English dictionaries of his"
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Following Nguyễn Hùng Tưởng (2004) and Nguyễn T. C. (1975), Vietnamese has an article lexical category slot that occurs before a quantifier.
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Quantifiers (also known as numerators) modify the adjacent noun by expressing their quantity. In Vietnamese, they occur within a noun phrase before a head noun (with or without a classifier). Quantifiers include cardinal numerals and other words which indicate some quantity. (Cardinal numerals are described in thenumeral section.) Examples of quantifiers:
| Quantifier | English gloss |
|---|---|
| một,hai,ba,bốn, etc. | cardinal numerals |
| vài,vài ba | few |
| dăm,dăm bảy | several, few |
| mọi | every |
| mỗi | each |
| từng | each in turn |
| mấy | few, how much/how many |
| bao nhiêu | how much/how many |
| bây nhiêu/bấy nhiêu | "this much/this many |
Quantifiers directly precede the head noun that they modify when the head occurs without a classifier:
hai two quan điểm viewpoint hai {quan điểm} two viewpoint "(the) two viewpoints" ba three đêm night ba đêm three night "three nights" | dăm few bữa day dăm bữa few day "(a) few days" mấy some người people mấy người some people "how many people?" how many = bao nhiêu |
When a classifier co-occurs with a following head noun, the quantifier precedes the classifier:
|
As in English,mass nouns such asthịt "meat",đất "soil", andcollective nouns such astrâu bò "cattle",ruộng nương "(rice) fields" usually occur without quantifiers in Vietnamese. However, these nouns can be specified by words denoting measurement units such ascân "kilogram",lạng "tael",nắm "handful",chén "cupful":
ba three cân kilogram thịt meat ba cân thịt three kilogram meat "three kilograms of meat" |
|
The optionalparticlecái is identified as afocus marker by Nguyễn Hùng Tưởng (2004). It has been called by several other names, includinggeneral classifier,general categorical, ''extra" cái,"extra" general classifier,definite article,superarticle,definite word,demonstrative word, andchỉ xuất "indexical". Focuscái occurs directly before classifiers or unit nouns and may be preceded by other pre-noun modifiers such as quantifiers, numerals, and articles. It always co-occurs with a classifier.[2]
As can be seen by descriptions of focuscái as "general classifier", etc., this particle has often been analyzed as a classifier. However, it can be distinguished by its different behavior. Focuscái always precedes a following classifier and may not directly precede the head noun. The noun phrase
is grammatical, but the phrase
is not grammatical. More than one classifier is not allowed within the same noun phrase, whereas focuscái does occur along with a following classifier (as can be seen above). Examples of other modifiers preceding the focus marker are below:
|
Again,cái must follow the other pre-noun modifiers, so phrases wherecái precedes a numeral or article (such as*cái hai chó đen này or*cái các con mèo này) are ungrammatical.
The focus markercái is distinct from the classifiercái that classifies inanimate nouns (although it is historically related to the classifiercái).[3] Thus, classifiercái cannot modify the nounchó "dog" (incái chó) sincechó is animate (the non-human animate classifiercon must be used:con chó), whereas focuscái can modify nouns of any animacy (with their appropriate classifier):
cái
cuốn
sách
book
sách = inanimate
cái cuốn sách này
FOC CLF book DEM.PROX
"this very book"
cái
người
lính
soldier
lính = human
cái người lính này
FOC CLF soldier DEM.PROX
"this very soldier"
Functionally,cái indicates grammatically that an element within a noun phrase is in contrastive focus. It has been noted by Nguyễn Đ. H. (1997) (and others) thatcái adds a pejorativeconnotation, as in:
| topicalized noun phrase | subj noun phrase | predicate |
| "that husband of mine, he is good for nothing" | ||
However, Nguyễn Hùng Tưởng (2004) claims that the connotation is not always negative and gives the following positive example:[4]
gặp meet gặp meet | ||
| subj noun phrase | verb | obj noun phrase |
| "it is the kind-hearted girl that I met" | ||
Phonologically, the focuscái receives anintonationalstress, and, in addition, the element receiving the focus also receives an intonational stress. In the following examples, the stressed words are indicated with capital letters (also underlined):
thích like thích like | ||
| subj noun phrase | verb | obj noun phrase |
| "I like the BLACK horse" (but not the horse that's a different color) | ||
In the above sentence, the item in focus isđen "black", which receives the stress (as doescái). Here, it is the feature of the horse's blackness that is being focused on (or singled out) in contrast to other horses that do not have the feature of blackness. In the sentence below,ngựa "horse" receives the focus and stress.
thích like thích like | ||
| subj noun phrase | verb | obj noun phrase |
| "I like the black HORSE" (but not the other black animal) | ||
The focus marker is always stressed and must co-occur with another stressed item; thus,cái cannot occur without another stressed element within the noun phrase.[5] Focuscái may focus a variety of noun phrase elements including prepositional phrases, relative clauses, constituents inside of relative clause modifiers, the head noun (by itself), the head noun plus preceding classifier, and adjectival verbs.
Vietnamese uses a rich set ofclassifiers andmeasure words (often considered a subset of the classifiers) to introduce or stand in forcount andmass nouns, respectively.[6] This feature of Vietnamese is similar to the system ofclassifiers in Chinese.
The most common classifiers typically do not translate to English:cái introduces most inanimate objects, whilecon generally introduces animate objects, especially animals.[7] In the following dialogue, the classifiercon initially introduces "chicken":[8]
Bán
sell
cho
for
tôi
me
bốn
four
gà.
chicken
Bán cho tôi bốncon gà.
sell for me fourCLF.ANIM chicken
"Sell me four chickens."
Bao nhiêu?
how many
{Bao nhiêu?}
{how many}
"How many?"
Nouns may require the animate classifier even if they do not refer to living organisms. For instance,dao (knife),đường (road),mắt (eye),sông (river), andvít (screw) all take thecon classifier to convey motion.[7]
More specific classifiers typically indicate the shape of objects, such asquả for round objects like balls or pieces of fruit, ortấm for flat, rectangular objects like signage or panes of glass. These classifiers may be superficially likened to English partitive constructions likeonehead of cattle ("head", always singular regardless of number, indicates large livestock),twosticks of dynamite ("stick" indicates something relatively rigid, long and comparatively thin),threestrands of hair ("strand" indicates something flexible, long and quite thin), orfourbars of gold (a "bar" being similar to a "stick", but comparatively less "thin").[9] Somenominalizing classifiers introduce verbs or adjectives instead of nouns.[7]
Some linguists count as many as 200 classifiers in Vietnamese, though only a few are used in conversation or informal writing.[7] Thompson (1987) notes that usage ofcái for inanimate objects has increased at the expense of some of the rarer classifiers.[9]
Among the most common classifiers are:
Classifiers are required in the presence of a quantifier, except for "non-classified nouns": "time units" such asphút (minute), geographical and administrative units such astỉnh (province), and polysyllabicSino-Vietnamese compound nouns.[6]
The classifiercái has a special role in that it can introduce any other classifier, e.g.cái con,cái chiếc, but Nguyễn Hùng Tường (2013) considers this to be a non-classifier use ofcái.[6]
includes noun phrase modifiers, verb phrase modifiers
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Nouns may be modified by certain demonstratives that follow the noun (see alsodemonstrative section below). These demonstratives include:này "this",nầy "this",nay "this",ni "this",đó "that",nấy "that",ấy "that",nãy "that",kia "that yonder",nọ "that yonder",kìa "that yonder (far)",nào "which". Examples:
|
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Possession is shown in Vietnamese via aprepositional phrase that modifies the next word, a noun. Any words after that are subsequent to that are, essentially, articles or demonstratives that bring up qualifying clauses.
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Vietnamese nouns that stand alone are unmarked for number and definiteness. Thus, a noun, such assách, may be glossed in English as "a book" (singular, indefinite), "the book" (singular, definite), "some books" (plural, indefinite), or "the books" (plural, definite). It is with the addition of classifiers, demonstratives, and other modifiers that the number and definiteness can be specified.
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Vietnamese pronouns[10] act as substitutions fornoun phrases.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thus, the third person singular (arrogant) pronounnó can substitute for a simple noun phraseHoan (a personal name) consisting of a single noun or a complex noun phrasecon chó này consisting of a noun plus modifiers (which, here, are a classifier and a demonstrative).
Note that the pronominal system as a whole also includes kinship terms (seekinship term section below) and certain demonstratives (seedemonstrative section below), which can also have a pronominal function.
The pronouns are categorized into two classes depending on whether they can be preceded by the plural markerchúng. Like other Asian pronominal systems, Vietnamese pronouns indicate the social status between speakers and other persons in the discourse in addition togrammatical person andnumber. The table below shows the first class of pronouns that can be preceded by pluralizer.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | tôi (inferior to superior)[11] | – |
| ta (emphatic, superior to inferior) | ta (emphatic, superior to inferior) | |
| tao[12] (superior to inferior, familiar) | – | |
| mình (intimate) | mình (intimate) | |
| 2nd Person | mày[13] ormi orbay (superior to inferior, familiar) | bay[14] (superior to inferior, familiar) |
| 3rd Person | nó (superior to inferior, familiar) y(southern dialect only, see below) | – |
The first persontôi is the only pronoun that can be used in polite speech. The second personta is often used when talking to oneself as in a soliloquy, but also indicates a higher status of the speaker (such as that of a high official, etc.). The other superior-to-inferior forms in the first and second persons (tao,mày,mi,bay) are commonly used in familiar social contexts, such as among family members (e.g. older sister to younger sister, etc.); these forms are otherwise considered impolite.[15] The third person formnó (used to refer to inanimates, animals, children, and scorned adults, such as criminals) is considerably less arrogant than the second person formstao,mày,mi,bay. The pronounmình is used only in intimate relationships, such as between husband and wife.
The pronominal forms in the table above can be modified with pluralchúng as inchúng mày "you (guys)",chúng nó "them". There is anexclusive/inclusive plural distinction in the first person:chúng tôi andchúng tao are exclusive (i.e., me and them but not you),chúng ta andchúng mình are inclusive (i.e., you and me). Some of the forms (ta,mình,bay) can be used to refer to a plural referent, resulting in pairs with overlapping reference (e.g., bothta andchúng ta can mean "inclusive we", bothbay andchúng bay can mean "you guys").
The other class of pronouns are known as "absolute" pronouns (Thompson 1965). These cannot be modified with the pluralizerchúng. Many of these forms are literary and archaic, particularly in the first and second person.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | min (familiar, literary) | choa (literary) |
| qua (male to female, literary) | ||
| thiếp (female to male, literary) | ||
| Trẫm (king to subject, archaic) | ||
| thần (subject to king, archaic)[16] | ||
| 2nd Person | bậu (female to male, literary) | – |
| chàng (female to male, literary) | ||
| ngài (subject to king, archaic) | ||
| 3rd Person | y (familiar) | người ta (generic) |
| hắn (familiar) | ||
| va[17] (familiar) | ||
| người ta (generic) |
Unlike third person pronouns of the first type, these absolute third person forms (y,hắn,va) refer only to animate referents (typically people). The formy can be preceded by the pluralizer in southern dialects in which case it is more respectful thannó. The absolute pronounngười ta has a wider range of reference as "they, people in general, (generic) one, we, someone".[18]
As a result oflanguage contact, some linguists have noted that some Vietnamese speech communities (especially among young college students and bilingual speakers) have borrowed French and English pronounsmoi,toi,I, andyou in order to avoid the deference and status implications present in the Vietnamese pronominal system (which lacks any truly neutral terms).[19][20]
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As mentioned in thenoun section above, verbs can be distinguished from nouns by their ability to function as predicators by themselves without a preceding copulalà. Additionally, verbs may be categorized into two main subtypes, stative and functive, according to their syntactic behavior.
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Stative verbs (also known as verbs of quality, extended state verbs, adjectival verbs or adjectives) can be distinguished from functive verbs in two:
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Functive verbs (also known as "real" verbs, verbs of action, "doing" words, or momentary action verbs) differ from stative verbs by the same syntactic tests:
A verb can interleave with a direct object for emphasis:
biết
to know
+
+
thân phận
social status
→
→
biết thân biết phận
to know one's place
{biết} + {thân phận} → {biết thân biết phận}
{to know} + {social status} → {to know one's place}
đi
to go
+
+
tới lui
back and forth
→
→
đi tới đi lui
to go back and forth
{đi} + {tới lui} → {đi tới đi lui}
{to go} + {back and forth} → {to go back and forth}
nói
to speak
+
+
bậy bạ
objectionable
→
→
nói bậy nói bạ
to speak objectionably
{nói} + {bậy bạ} → {nói bậy nói bạ}
{to speak} + {objectionable} → {to speak objectionably}
In the last example, the verbnói splits thebound morphemes of thereduplicated wordbậy bạ.
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Although it is not required, Vietnamese has many particles that are used to mark tenses. However, they are not always used as context may suffice. All these markers, except "rồi" which goes after the verb, go before the verb.(Below each point, there is an example of the marker being used with the verb "to have dinner" or "ăn tối".)
Tôi đã ăn tối – I had dinner
Tôi sẽ ăn tối – I will have dinner
Tôi vừa mới ăn tối – I just had dinner
Tôi sắp ăn tối – I am about to have dinner
Tôi (đã) ăn tối rồi – I already had dinner
Tôi đang ăn tối – I am having dinnerTôi đã đang ăn tối – I was having dinner
The active voice can be changed to passive voice by adding the following words:"được" if the verb describing the action implies beneficial effects for the agent and"bị" if the verb describing the action implies negative effects. The words"được" and"bị" must stand in front of the main verb.
An agent, if there is one, is often placed in between the passive particle and the main verb:
Trần Lập
Trần Lập
được
nhiều người
many people
biết tới
know about
{Trần Lập} được {nhiều người} {biết tới}
{Trần Lập} PASS {many people} {know about}
Trần Lập is known about by many people. (Many people know about Trần Lập.)
When used with intransitive verbs (and adjectives), these two particles imply the subject is a passive participant to the action described by the verb, as in following example:
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The topic–comment structure is an important sentence type in Vietnamese. Therefore, Vietnamese has often been claimed to be atopic-prominent language (Thompson 1991). As an example the sentence "Tôi đọc sách này rồi." ("I've already read this book.") can be transformed into the following topic prominent equivalent. Note that the topic marker can also be dropped.
Kinship terms in Vietnamese have becomegrammaticalized to a large extent and thus have developed grammatical functions similar to pronouns[21] and other classifiers. In these cases, they are used ashonorifics or pejoratives. Kinship terms may also, of course, be used with a lexical meaning like other nouns.
When used with a pronominal function, kinship terms primarily indicate the social status between referents in a discourse, such as between the speaker and the hearer, between speaker and another referent, etc. Included within the notion of social status are classifications of age, sex, relative social position, and the speaker's attitude.
For example, one can express the meaning ofI love you in Vietnamese using many different pronouns.
The most common terms of reference are kinship terms, which might differ slightly in different regions.
When addressing an audience, the speaker must carefully assess the social relationship between him/her and the audience, difference in age, and sex of the audience to choose an appropriate form of address. The following are some kinship terms of address that can be used in the second-person sense (you). They all can also be used in the first-person sense (I), but if they're not marked by (S) the usage is limited to the literal meaning:
Using a person's name to refer to oneself or to address another is considered more personal and informal than using pronouns. It can be found among close friends or children.
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Vietnamesedemonstratives (markers ofdeixis) all have the function of identifying a referent with respect to another contextual point or position.[22][23] For example, the demonstrativenày "this" as in the noun phrasengười này "this person" indicates that the person referred to is relatively close to the speaker (in a context where this noun phrase is uttered by a speaker to an addressee) while the demonstrativeđó "that" as in the noun phrasengười đó "that person" indicates that the person referred to is further from the speaker.
The demonstratives have a basic three-term deictic system — proximal (close – "this, here"), medial (far – "that, there"), distal (very far – "yonder, over there") — plus an indefinite (or interrogative) term ("which, where"). In addition to their deictic function, different Vietnamese demonstratives can function variously as noun modifiers, as noun phrases (i.e., a (pro-) nominal function), or asadverbials.
| Function | Proximal | Medial | Distal | Indefinite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominal | đây "here" | đấy "there" | – | đâu "where, wherever" |
| Nominal/Noun modifier | – | đó "there, that" | kia/kìa "over there, yonder" (bidirectional) | – |
| Noun modifier | này/nầy/nay/ni "this" | nấy/ấy "that" | nọ "yonder" (unidirectional – past) | nào "which(ever)" |
| Proportion | bây "to this extent" | bấy "to that extent, to such an extent" | bao "to what(ever) extent" | |
| Manner | vầy "this way, thus" | vậy "that way, so" | sao "how(ever)" | |
The formnày tends to be used in Northern Vietnamese whilenầy is the Southern form andni is the North-central and Central form. In North-central and Central Vietnamese, the formnớ is used instead ofnọ,mô instead ofnào andđâu,rứa instead ofvậy, andrăng instead ofsao.
In Hanoi, the formthế ornhư thế "(like) so, (like) this way" is used instead ofvầy. Other forms mentioned in Thompson (1965) arenay "this",nây "this (temporal)",nãy ornẫy "that (just past)", andnao "which".
The basic formal pattern of the demonstratives is that the initial consonant and ending vowel nucleus indicate their function and position in the deictic system. Some linguists have analyzed demonstratives as consisting of two (sub-syllabic) morphemes. Following this, the initialđ- indicates a nominal,n- a noun modifier,b- proportion,v-~s- manner, and the vowels-ây~-ay proximal/medial,-âu~-ao indefinite, and-o medial/distal.[24] However, the formkia is analyzed as consisting of only one morpheme. Overlaid on these elements are tones, which indicate contrastive distances increasingly further from the contextual position:ngang tone (closest),huyền tone (further),sắc ornặng tone (even further). Thus,đấy is more remote thanđây,kìa more remote thankia,vậy more remote thanvầy. There is anidiomatic expression where demonstratives with an even increasing distance modify the nounngày "day(time)":
Syntactically, the demonstrativesđó andkia may function as either nouns or as noun modifiers:
người person đó that ngườiđó person that | là be là be | |
| subj noun phrase | verb | obj noun phrase |
| "That person is his brother." | ||
đó that đó that | là be là be | |
| subj noun phrase | verb | obj noun phrase |
| "That is his brother." | ||
The nominalsđây,đấy, andđâu are only used as nouns typically denoting a space or time and cannot function as noun modifiers. Although they usually refer to position situated in time/space, the nominal deictics can be used to metaphorically refer to people, as in:
đây
this
đi
go
chợ,
market,
đấy
that
có
đi
go
không?
đây đi chợ,đấy có đi không?
this go market, that AFF go NEG
"I'm going to the market, what about you?"
In the sentence above (which would translate more literally as "This is going to the market, is that going or not?"), proximalđây is used to refer (metaphorically) to the speaker (as "I") while medialđấy is used to refer to the addressee (as "you"). The demonstrative noun modifiersnày,(n)ấy,nọ, andnào can only modify nouns and cannot stand alone as nouns.
When referring to time, the distal demonstrativeskia andnọ differ in directionality.Kia specifies a point remote either in the past or the future whilenọ specifies only a remote point in the past:
The proportion demonstratives (bây,bấy,bao) refer to the extent of measurement of time or space. They precede the words they modify, such asgiờ "time",nhiêu "(to have) much/many",lâu "(to be) long, (take a) long time":
Numerals (or numbers) consist of two types: cardinal numerals and ordinal numerals. When occurring in noun phrases, cardinal and ordinal numerals occur in different syntactic positions with respect to the head noun. The article below only shows the native Vietnamese numerals, remember thatSino-Vietnamese numerals will be used in certain cases.
Vietnamese numerals are adecimal system. "Zero" lacks a dedicated numeral withsố không[25] "empty number" (<số "number",không "empty") being used.
Numerals are generally analytic, with multiples of ten following a regular pattern.
| base numeral | + 10 | × 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | một ~mốt | mười một (11) | – |
| 2 | hai | mười hai (12) | hai mươi (20) |
| 3 | ba | mười ba (13) | ba mươi (30) |
| 4 | bốn,tư | mười bốn (14) | bốn mươi (40) |
| 5 | năm | mười lăm (15) | năm mươi (50) |
| 6 | sáu | mười sáu (16) | sáu mươi (60) |
| 7 | bảy orbẩy[26] | mười bảy (17) | bảy mươi (70) |
| 8 | tám | mười tám (18) | tám mươi (80) |
| 9 | chín | mười chín (19) | chín mươi (90) |
| 10 | mười | – | (mười mươi)[27] (100) |
Additive compounds are formed by withmười- "10" initially and another numeral following:mười tám ("10" + "8" = "18"). Multiplicative compounds are formed with an order that is the reverse of the additive compounds, i.e.-mươi is preceded by another numeral:tám mươi ("8" x "10" = "80").
Consonantal and tonal alternations occur in some compound numerals. The numeralmười "10" in multiplicative compounds has a tonal change (huyền tone >ngang tone) to-mươi "times 10", as in:
The numeralmột "1" undergoes a tonal alternation (nặng tone >sắc tone) tomốt when it occurs aftermươi (withngang tone) in multiples of 10, as in:
The numeralnăm "5" undergoes an initial consonant alternation (n >l) tolăm as the final element in additive compounds, as in:
The Vietnamese word for hundred istrăm. Number formation generally follows the same logic as before, with the same consonantal and tonal shifts. However, with the numbers 101–109, 201–209 and so on, a placeholderlẻ ("odd") orlinh is inserted to represent "zero tens."
| 100 | một trăm | 200 | hai trăm | 900 | chín trăm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 101 | một trămlẻ/linh một | 201 | hai trăm lẻ/linh một | 901 | chín trăm lẻ/linh một |
| 102 | một trăm lẻ/linh hai | 202 | hai trăm lẻ/linh hai | 902 | chín trăm lẻ/linh hai |
| 105 | một trăm lẻ/linh năm | 205 | hai trăm lẻ/linh năm | 905 | chín trăm lẻ/linh năm |
| 110 | một trăm mười | 210 | hai trăm mười | 910 | chín trăm mười |
| 111 | một trăm mười một | 211 | hai trăm mười một | 911 | chín trăm mười một |
| 112 | một trăm mười hai | 212 | hai trăm mười hai | 912 | chín trăm mười hai |
| 115 | một trăm mười lăm | 215 | hai trăm mười lăm | 915 | chín trăm mười lăm |
| 120 | một trăm hai mươi | 220 | hai trăm hai mươi | 920 | chín trăm hai mươi |
| 121 | một trăm hai mươi mốt | 221 | hai trăm hai mươi mốt | 921 | chín trăm hai mươi mốt |
| 122 | một trăm hai mươi hai | 222 | hai trăm hai mươi hai | 922 | chín trăm hai mươi hai |
| 125 | một trăm hai mươi lăm | 225 | hai trăm hai mươi lăm | 925 | chín trăm hai mươi lăm |
| 155 | một trăm năm mươi lăm | 255 | hai trăm năm mươi lăm | 955 | chín trăm năm mươi lăm |
The Vietnamese word for thousand isngàn (Southern) ornghìn (Northern). With the numbers 1,001–1,099, 2,001–2,099 and so on, the empty hundreds place must be specified withkhông trăm ("zero hundreds").
| 1,000 | một ngàn/nghìn | 10,000 | mười ngàn/nghìn | 21,000 | hai mươi mốt ngàn/nghìn | 155,000 | một trăm năm mươi lăm ngàn/nghìn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,001 | một ngàn/nghìn không trăm lẻ/linh một | 10,001 | mười ngàn/nghìn không trăm lẻ/linh một | 21,001 | hai mươi mốt ngàn/nghìn không trăm lẻ/linh một | 155,001 | một trăm năm mươi lăm ngàn/nghìn không trăm lẻ/linh một |
| 1,021 | một ngàn/nghìn không trăm hai mươi mốt | 10,021 | mười ngàn/nghìn không trăm hai mươi mốt | 21,021 | hai mươi mốt ngàn/nghìn không trăm hai mươi mốt | 155,021 | một trăm năm mươi lăm ngàn/nghìn không trăm hai mươi mốt |
| 1,055 | một ngàn/nghìn không trăm năm mươi lăm | 10,055 | mười ngàn/nghìn không trăm năm mươi lăm | 21,055 | hai mươi mốt ngàn/nghìn không trăm năm mươi lăm | 155,055 | một trăm năm mươi lăm ngàn/nghìn không trăm năm mươi lăm |
| 1,100 | một ngàn/nghìn một trăm | 10,100 | mười ngàn/nghìn một trăm | 21,100 | hai mươi mốt ngàn/nghìn một trăm | 155,100 | một trăm năm mươi lăm ngàn/nghìn một trăm |
| 1,101 | một ngàn/nghìn một trăm lẻ/linh một | 10,101 | mười ngàn/nghìn một trăm lẻ/linh một | 21,101 | hai mươi mốt ngàn/nghìn một trăm lẻ/linh một | 155,101 | một trăm năm mươi lăm ngàn/nghìn một trăm lẻ/linh một |
| 1,121 | một ngàn/nghìn một trăm hai mươi mốt | 10,121 | mười ngàn/nghìn một trăm hai mươi mốt | 21,121 | hai mươi mốt ngàn/nghìn một trăm hai mươi mốt | 155,121 | một trăm năm mươi lăm ngàn/nghìn một trăm hai mươi mốt |
The word for "million" istriệu. The word for "billion" istỉ. Above this, combinations ofngàn/nghìn,triệu andtỉ must be used.
| 1 million | một triệu | 1 × 1018 | một tỉ tỉ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 billion | một tỉ | 1 × 1021 | một ngàn tỉ tỉ |
| 1 trillion | một ngàn tỉ | 1 × 1024 | một triệu tỉ tỉ |
| 1 × 1015 | một triệu tỉ | 1 × 1027 | một tỉ tỉ tỉ |
Ordinal numerals are formed by adding thethứ- ordinal prefix to cardinal numerals:thứ- +mười "ten" =thứ mười "tenth".[28]
Other examples include:
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