Thinking of Starting Vietnamese – How Many Tones Are There (and Are They Like Mandarin?)

Vietnamese Tiếng Việt
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Hi everyone!
I just got back from a trip to Vietnam and absolutely loved it. While I was there, a Vietnamese friend of mine gave me a super quick intro lesson—she taught me how to count from 1 to 10, and I had so much fun with it that I’ve been seriously considering learning the language properly.

I studied Mandarin in the past, so I’m somewhat familiar with the idea of tones. That said, I’ve heard that Vietnamese has even more tones than Mandarin, and I was wondering:
How many tones are there in Vietnamese, exactly? :exploding_head:

And for those who have experience with both, how do the tones in Vietnamese compare to the ones in Mandarin? Are they totally different, or is there some overlap in terms of pitch, contour, or usage?

Would love to hear from others who’ve made the jump from Mandarin to Vietnamese (or vice versa). :pray:t3:

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To answer your question: Vietnamese has 6 tones (in the northern dialect like in Hanoi), while Mandarin has 4 main tones (plus the neutral tone). So yes, it’s technically “more,” but since you’ve already studied Mandarin, you’re actually ahead of the game!

In terms of comparison:

  • Vietnamese tones are more pitch + voice quality based—some tones sound “creaky” or “breathy,” not just rising or falling.

  • There’s some overlap with Mandarin’s tones, like rising (Vietnamese “sắc” ≈ Mandarin 2nd tone), and falling (Vietnamese “huyền” ≈ Mandarin 4th tone), but Vietnamese has additional tones with glottal stops or “heavy” endings that Mandarin doesn’t use.

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