Vietnamese Numbers 🔢 The Super Simple Guide

Learn How To Count in Vietnamese // A Great Guide to Vietnamese Numbers (with Flashcards & Bonus Quiz)

Learning the numbers in any language is a fruitful step to make – so with that said today we will teach you all the Vietnamese Numbers.

It’s not as daunting as it might seem and it can open a number of doors you may’ve not thought about.

• Think about birthdays and dates
• Think about phone numbers
• Think about if you’re a lover of Maths!
• Think about ordering a number of… (items, food etc)

The possibilities are vast when you nail the numbers in any language, and Vietnamese is no different.

Let’s learn how to count from 1 to 100, and then 1,000 and beyond with this guide on how to say all the Vietnamese numbers!

Vietnamese Numbers | Counting from 1-10

Vietnamese Numbers | Counting from 10-20

Vietnamese Numbers | Counting from 20-100

Vietnamese Numbers | Counting from 100-1,000

Vietnamese Numbers | Counting Beyond 1,000

BONUS | FREE Quiz

Vietnamese Numbers | FAQ’s

Vietnamese Numbers | 1-10

First thing to note about Vietnamese numbers.

In Vietnamese, we say “số” which means “number” then the name of that number.

So for numbers from 1-10, here is how you pronounce them:

DID YOU KNOW – the number 2 “hai” in Vietnamese is a homophone with the greeting “hi” in English. 

That’s why many young Vietnamese who know a bit of English would usually use the classic V – holding up two fingers – as a friendly greeting.

They are saying “Hi!” to you!

Now that you have learned how the Vietnamese Numbers from 1-10 are written, how do
you pronounce them?

Well, I have just the song for you!

“Hai Phút Hơn” – “More than two minutes” by Pháo, took TikTok by storm with the extremely ear-catching jingle counting from one to four in Vietnamese.

If you have Tiktok you are sure to know this tune (see the video below). Here are the lyrics, can you hear them in the song?

Một hai ba bốn ba hai một
One two three four three two one

Hình như anh nói anh say rồi?
You seem to say that you are drunk?

Một hai ba bốn ba hai một
One two three four three two one

Hình như anh nói anh yêu em rồi.
You seem to say that you have fallen in love with me?

Vietnamese Numbers | 11-20

With Vietnamese numbers we have the blessing of not needing to remember the new words eleven and twelve, as you do in English.

It’s actually really easy because we just use the format mười + number

Can you see the pattern? It’s quite easy to follow isn’t it.

We just take the number for 10 and then add on the next digit. There are a couple of notes though.

For the number 15 – (*) “lăm/nhăm” is a casual phonetic variation of “năm”, and usually occurs when the number 5 shows up in the unit of a two-digit number in daily conversation (such as 25, 45 etc).

“Lăm” is more popular in the Southern dialect while “nhăm” is a Northern variation.

For the number 12 – (**) Similarly to English, Vietnamese people also have a different word for “a dozen”, which is “một tá”.

It is more commonly used for when you are shopping for a dozen eggs – một tá trứng. 

Vietnamese Numbers | 20-100

Going up to 100 in Vietnamese numbers is straightforward now we have the basics nailed down.

We use the theory we learned from 11-20.

Number + 10 + Number

Pronunciation – Number + mươi + number

Here are some examples

Regarding the number 21 (*) “mốt” is a phonetic variation of 1 – “một”. It also only applies for two-digit numbers from 20 upwards.

Here are the multiples of 10 up to 100 also.

There are some other things to note as well.

For even numbers, “mươi” can also be pronounced as “chục”, which means the same thing.

“Mươi” can be used for both odd and even numbers. For example, you can pronounce 80 as” tám mươi” or “tám chục” but you can’t pronounce 99 as “chín chục chín”, only “chín mươi chín” is acceptable.

4 can be pronounced as “tư” (especially in the South) except for when talking about Maths.

25 has another phonetic variation, which is “hăm lăm” where “hăm” is the shortened version of “hai mươi” or 20 and “lăm” is the phonetic variation of “năm” or 5.

Don’t worry if all this seems a lot to take in, it’s not essential you remember all these rules straight away. Every language has it’s quirks with numbers and just takes a little practice and exposure.

Vietnamese Numbers | Counting from 100-1,000

Learning bigger numbers in Vietnamese is actually quite useful. The Vietnamese currency which is the Dong, uses very large denominations.

For example:

• 1 British Pound is roughly 30,000 Vietnamese Dong
• 1 US Dollar is roughly 23,000 Vietnamese Dong
• 1 Euro is roughly 27,000 Vietnamese Dong

When talking about prices it’s therefore quite useful to not dismiss those numbers, but learn them.

With that in mind, we now make our journey up to 1,000 before going even further.

DID YOU KNOW – There is another way to pronounce the word “lẻ”, which is “linh”.

While “linh” is a Sino Vietnamese word that is popular in the Northern Vietnamese accent, “lẻ” is a pure Vietnamese word commonly used in the South.

Now for the next structure…

number + 100 + number + 10 + number

number + trăm + number + mươi + number

Once again for clarity, here are the round hundreds up to 1,000.

You can see that learning the numbers in Vietnamese isn’t all that bad once you’ve gotten to grips with 1-10!

Vietnamese Dialects // North or South?

North vs South? Vietnamese dialects can vary quite significantly. This is one of the very early questions a Vietnamese learner asks themselves.

Vietnamese Numbers | Counting Beyond 1,000

Moving into the realms of large Vietnamese numbers isn’t all that scary either.

Why?

Because the same structure is adhered to.

For the following examples we just take the word we’ve learnt for 1,000 (nghìn) and add the preceding digit.

Let’s take a look…

To go even higher, we just need to learn the measure word for each additional unit.

That pretty much sums up how to count in Vietnamese. Use the structures you’ve read and you’ll be absolutely fine.

It takes a little practice but we advise you practice 1-10 and then up to 100. Take your time and you’ll be a master of Vietnamese Numbers in next to no time!

Feeling brave? Why not take on our quick-fire quiz here…

Vietnamese Numbers | Quiz

OK so now we’ve taught you how to count in Vietnamese, let’s see how much you remembered?!

We’ve prepared a nice, friendly quiz which is 20 questions long but super fast!

It’s multiple choice and results are instant, come and have a go and share your result if you get a great score!

Time is Up!

Time's up

If you like your numbers then why not also check out our guides on Chinese numbers, Korean numbers, Russian numbers and Japanese numbers too and become an expert!

Vietnamese Numbers | FAQ’s

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