Thank you and hello in VietnameseWith pronunciation, and the replies you'll hear back
Vietnamese is written in the Latin alphabet, which makes it look easier than it sounds. The letters are familiar, the tones and the accent marks are doing the real work, and the north and the south pronounce a lot of it differently. Here are 18 phrases people actually use in Vietnam, in the order worth learning them. The replies you will hear back are included too.
"Thank you" in Vietnamese
Cảm ơn
kam UHN
Add a name or title for warmth: cảm ơn chị to an older woman, cảm ơn anh to an older man.
Thank you
Cảm ơn
kam UHN
Hello
Xin chào
sin CHOW
Works at any time of day, with anyone.
Sorry / excuse me
Xin lỗi
sin LOY
Covers both apologising and getting someone's attention.
Yes there is / No
Có / Không
kaw / khome
Không is the workhorse. It means no, not and is also the question tag on the end of yes-no questions.
Yes (polite)
Dạ
yah in the south, zah in the north
Put it in front of anything to make it polite. Understood everywhere.
The respelling is an approximation. Vietnamese has six tones, and an English respelling cannot carry a single one of them. The readings here get you into the right neighbourhood, nothing more, and the same syllable said flat can mean something completely different. Northern and southern pronunciation also split hard: d and gi sound like z in Hanoi and like y in Saigon. When a phrase does not land, show the written Vietnamese on your screen, because the accent marks tell the reader exactly what the tone is.
Five phrases is genuinely enough for Vietnamese
You do not need to work through a phrasebook before you go. Almost everything a traveller says falls into these five shapes, and they are listed under "Start with these five" above.
- Thank you … The one you will use most. If you learn a single word, make it this one.
- Hello … Said the moment you walk into a shop. Whether you say it changes how you are treated.
- Excuse me … Some languages split calling someone over and apologising into different words. Check the list above.
- How much is it? … Needed for every purchase and every meal. If you miss the number, ask them to show it.
- I don't understand … Without this you end up nodding along and walking off in the wrong direction.
Getting these five automatic beats memorising twenty. Twenty phrases you have to search your memory for are worth nothing at the moment you need them.
Yes is not one word, and which one you use depends on where you are
There is no all-purpose yes in Vietnamese. In the north people say vâng, in the south they say dạ, and có means yes there is rather than yes I agree. If you only learn one, learn dạ: it is understood nationwide and it does more than agree, because it also works as a soft I'm listening at the start of a sentence. Sticking dạ in front of almost anything makes it politer, and leaving it off can make a request sound like an order. It is the cheapest politeness upgrade in the language.
The hard part is not speaking, it is understanding the reply
Almost every phrasebook only covers what you say. What actually stops people is the second after they finish talking, when the other person answers. How many of you. For here or to go. Card or cash. Go quiet and the exchange dies. Nod along and you get the wrong thing.
The good news is that the replies are a small, predictable set. Choose "You hear" in the list above and you will see only the ones that actually come back at you in Vietnam. Reading them once before you go is most of the work.
If you still cannot catch it, ask them to write it down. Numbers and place names are far easier to read than to hear.
Say it clearly rather than say it perfectly
Vietnamese has six tones, and an English respelling cannot carry a single one of them. The readings here get you into the right neighbourhood, nothing more, and the same syllable said flat can mean something completely different. Northern and southern pronunciation also split hard: d and gi sound like z in Hanoi and like y in Saigon. When a phrase does not land, show the written Vietnamese on your screen, because the accent marks tell the reader exactly what the tone is.
The usual failure is not a wrong vowel, it is going quiet because you are unsure. Keep it short, say it at normal volume, and finish the phrase in one breath. Everyone can tell you are a visitor attempting Vietnamese, and if it does not land they will simply ask again. Copy the written form to your phone so you have something to show when speaking does not work.
Other languages
FAQ
Q.How do you say thank you in Vietnamese?
Cảm ơn, pronounced roughly kam UHN. Add a name or title for warmth: cảm ơn chị to an older woman, cảm ơn anh to an older man. If you learn one word before you travel, make it this one. It works at the till, when someone gives you directions, and when someone gives up a seat.
Q.Will the pronunciation guide alone get me understood?
Vietnamese has six tones, and an English respelling cannot carry a single one of them. The readings here get you into the right neighbourhood, nothing more, and the same syllable said flat can mean something completely different. Northern and southern pronunciation also split hard: d and gi sound like z in Hanoi and like y in Saigon. When a phrase does not land, show the written Vietnamese on your screen, because the accent marks tell the reader exactly what the tone is.
Q.How much should I learn before I go?
Five phrases. Thank you, hello, excuse me, how much is it, and I don't understand. That covers nearly every situation a traveller hits. Getting those five automatic matters far more than adding a sixth, because at the moment you need them there is no time to think.
Q.Why bother when I have a translation app?
For getting something done, the app wins. People still learn a few words because it changes how they are treated. In a 2025 Preply survey of 1,526 US adults, 47 percent of those who used the local language said locals treated them better, 80 percent said learning phrases before a trip is important, and 58 percent actually did it. A greeting is less about transferring information and more about signalling that you made an effort.
Q.I can ask the question, but I cannot understand the answer.
That is the most common way this goes wrong, and it is why this page includes the other side. Choose "You hear" in the list above to see only what gets said back to you in Vietnam. There are not many variations: how many of you, eat in or take away, card or cash. Reading them once removes most of the surprise.
Q.Does this work offline?
Yes. Everything runs in the browser, with no account and nothing sent to a server. Open it once before you fly and it will usually still be there on the plane or in a dead zone. You can copy any phrase and show the screen when speaking does not work.
Reading a phrase is not the same as saying it
You can recognise every phrase on this page and still freeze at the counter, because there is no time to think. Inko lets you say Vietnamese out loud to an AI for 60 seconds a day, and afterwards it shows you what you could have said instead. A week before you fly is enough to make a difference.