Ghế= Chair (Gh is pronounced like the « G » sound from « guy »)
Ô
Vietnamese Letter
Pronunciation
Example
Ô
Like the « O » sound from « bone » or « oh »
Tô = Soup bowl
O
Vietnamese Letter
Pronunciation
Example
O
Like the « O » sound from « God »
To = Huge
Ơ
Vietnamese Letter
Pronunciation
Example
Ơ
Like the « A » sound from « banana » , very similar to the Vietnamese letter Â
Phở = Vietnamese soup
U
Vietnamese Letter
Pronunciation
Example
U
Like the « O » sound from « boots » or « cool »
Chúc = To wish
Ư
Vietnamese Letter
Pronunciation
Example
Ư
Like an « uuuu » sound while you smile with your teeth closed
Mừng = Happy Ừh = Yeah
I & Y
Vietnamese Letters
Pronunciation
Example
I
Like the « E » sound from « me »
Tí = An instant
Y
(Same as above)
Kỳ = Strange
Exercise
10
Accents and tones
⚠️ Vowels with different accents (not tones) are to be seen as totally different letters.
For example, « ô, » « o » and « ơ » are 3 different letters, as well as « ă, » « â » and « a, » « e » and « ê » and finally « u » and « ư. »
⚠️ DO NOT CONFUSE TONES AND ACCENTS:
Tones go up and/or down in intonations (mà, ma, mả, mạ, mã) and there can be words containing an accent and a tone at the same time, as in this example: « Bố = father. »
« Bố » (father) and « bồ » (boyfriend and girlfriend) have the same letter « Ô. » Only the tone changes.
As for « bồ » (boyfriend and girlfriend) and « bò » (cow), the tones are the same but the accents (letters) are different.
=> So the letters « O » and « Ô » are not to be perceived as 2 variants of the letter « O » but as 2 different letters, just as « E » and « A » are perceived as different letters.
