100 Essential Vietnamese Words for Beginners (with English Translations)

Greetings & basics

16 words

English	Vietnamese	Type
hello	xin chào	interjection
goodbye	tạm biệt	interjection
yes	có	interjection
no	không	interjection
please	xin vui lòng	interjection
thank you	cảm ơn	interjection
sorry	xin lỗi	interjection
and	và	conjunction
but	nhưng	conjunction
or	hoặc	conjunction
because	bởi vì	conjunction
here	đây	adverb
there	đó	adverb
always	luôn luôn	adverb
never	không bao giờ	adverb
together	cùng nhau	adverb

People & family

14 words

English	Vietnamese	Type
man	người đàn ông	noun
woman	phụ nữ	noun
boy	cậu bé	noun
girl	cô bé	noun
friend	bạn	noun
mother	mẹ	noun
father	bố	noun
brother	anh trai	noun
sister	em gái	noun
son	con trai	noun
daughter	con gái	noun
child	đứa trẻ	noun
husband	chồng	noun
wife	vợ	noun

Everyday verbs

16 words

English	Vietnamese	Type
to be	là	verb
to do	làm	verb
to go	đi	verb
to come	đến	verb
to eat	ăn	verb
to drink	uống	verb
to want	muốn	verb
to need	cần	verb
to know	biết	verb
to speak	nói	verb
to read	đọc	verb
to write	viết	verb
to listen	nghe	verb
to work	làm việc	verb
to buy	mua	verb
to pay	trả tiền	verb

Describing words

10 words

English	Vietnamese	Type
good	tốt	adjective
bad	xấu	adjective
new	mới	adjective
old	già	adjective
young	trẻ	adjective
tall	cao	adjective
short	thấp	adjective
nice	dễ mến	adjective
kind	tử tế	adjective
shy	nhút nhát	adjective

Colors

8 words

English	Vietnamese	Type
red	đỏ	adjective
blue	xanh dương	adjective
green	xanh lá cây	adjective
yellow	vàng	adjective
black	đen	adjective
white	trắng	adjective
orange	cam	adjective
purple	tím	adjective

Numbers

12 words

English	Vietnamese	Type
one	một	number
two	hai	number
three	ba	number
four	bốn	number
five	năm	number
six	sáu	number
seven	bảy	number
eight	tám	number
nine	chín	number
ten	mười	number
twenty	hai mươi	number
thirty	ba mươi	number

Time

10 words

English	Vietnamese	Type
today	hôm nay	adverb
tomorrow	ngày mai	adverb
yesterday	hôm qua	adverb
morning	buổi sáng	noun
afternoon	buổi chiều	noun
evening	buổi tối	noun
night	đêm	noun
day	ngày	noun
week	tuần	noun
month	tháng	noun

Food & drink

10 words

English	Vietnamese	Type
water	nước	noun
coffee	cà phê	noun
tea	trà	noun
milk	sữa	noun
bread	bánh mì	noun
cheese	phô mai	noun
fruit	trái cây	noun
apple	táo	noun
egg	trứng	noun
rice	gạo	noun

Home

4 words

English	Vietnamese	Type
house	nhà	noun
door	cửa	noun
window	cửa sổ	noun
bed	giường	noun

Emoji: Twemoji, CC-BY 4.0

Learn these Vietnamese words for good

Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch

A list is where learning starts, not where it ends. Watch Your Language puts Vietnamese words like these on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, so you see a few every time you check the time, and it schedules the repeats so the words you keep forgetting come back more often.

You can add your own words too, from a photo, a page of notes or a spreadsheet.

Keep going with Vietnamese

Vietnamese vocabulary testFind your level How long does Vietnamese take to learn?A realistic plan

Vietnamese for beginners questions

What are the first Vietnamese words to learn?

Start with the words you use every day: greetings, numbers, the days and times, food, family and a handful of verbs. For Vietnamese that means words like xin chào (hello), cảm ơn (thank you), nước (water) and ăn (to eat). The list above groups 100 of them by topic.

How is Vietnamese written?

Vietnamese uses the Latin alphabet, so you can read the words above without learning a new script. 92 of the 100 words contain a letter or mark outside plain a–z, so learn those alongside the spelling.

Is 100 words enough to speak Vietnamese?

No. This is a starting set: enough to greet people, count, talk about time, name food and family, and say what you want or need. Conversation needs more words, and above all hearing and using them. Treat the list as the first step, then add words from topics you care about.

How do I remember these Vietnamese words?

Read a few at a time, say them out loud, and come back to them on a schedule rather than once. Watch Your Language puts words like these in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting more often.