Installing Vietnamese keyboard

Before starting to type, you need to install software that allows Vietnamese typing. Follow these links to learn how to install Vietnamese keyboard on Windows10 or MacOS.

Vietnamese alphabet

The Latin-based Vietnamese alphabet consists of 29 letters, including 7 modified letters are ă, â, đ, ê, ô, ơ, and ư.

Aa Ăă Ââ Bb Cc Dd Đđ Ee Êê Gg Hh Ii Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Ôô Ơơ Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Ưư Vv Xx Yy

Tone marks

Vietnamese is a tonal language. There are 6 tones represented by 5 diacritics marks and 1 null mark. They are:

Tone "ngang": null mark (no tone mark)

Tone "huyền": a grave mark is put above a vowel.

Tone "sắc": an acute mark is put above a vowel.

Tone "hỏi": a hook above mark is put above a vowel

Tone "ngã": a tilde mark is put above a vowel.

Tone "nặng": an under dot mark is put under a vowel.

Vietnamese typing rules

Typing Vietnamese deals with 7 modified letters and tone marks

There are two most common ways to type Vietnamese: Telex and VNI. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Try with both and choose your favourite method. This guidelines will describe how to type Vietnamese with both Telex and VNI.

Typing Vietnamese using Telex

Before starting to type Vietnamese with Telex method, make sure Telex keyboard is selected. 

Type modified letters (with cross bar, circumflex, curved breve, and horn) đ, â, ê, ô, ă, ơ, ư:

đ = dd (Double typing d)
ê = ee (Double typing e)
â = aa (Double typing a)
ô = oo (Double typing o)
Type o / u / a followed by w:
ơ = ow (Type o followed by w)
ư = uw (type u followed by w)
ă = aw (type a followed by w)

Input tone marks

Type vowels followed by s / r /  j / f / x: to input tone marks

To input "´": type vowel a / ă / â / e / ê / i / y / o / ô / u / ơ followed by s
as = á ăs = ắ âs = ấ es = é ês = ế is = í ys = ý os = ó ôs = ố us = ú ơs = ớ

To input " ̉": type vowel a / ă / â / e / ê / i / y / o / ô / u / ơ followed by r
ar = ả ăr = ẳ âr = ẩ er = ẻ êr = ể ir = ỉ yr = ỷ or = ỏ ôr = ổ ur = ủ ơr = ở

To input ".": type vowel a / ă / â / e / ê / i / y / o / ô / u / ơ followed by j
aj = ạ ăj = ặ âj = ậ ej = ẹ êj = ệ js = ị yj = ỵ oj = ọ ôj = ộ uj = ụ ơj = ợ

To input "`": type vowel a / ă / â / e / ê / i / y / o / ô / u / ơ followed by f
af = à ăf = ằ âf = ầ ef = è êf = ề if = ì yf = ỳ of = ò ôf = ồ uf = ù ơf = ờ

To input "~": type vowel a / ă / â / e / ê / i / y / o / ô / u / ơ followed by x
ax = ã ăx = ẵ âx = ẫ ex = ẽ êx = ễ ix = ĩ yx = ỹ ox = õ ôx = ỗ ux = ũ ơx = ỡ

Example: Tôi tên là Tấm --> Type: Tooi teen laf Taasm

Typing Vietnamese using VNI

Before starting to type Vietnamese with VNI method, make sure VNI (on MacOS) / Vietnamese Number Key based (on Windows10) is selected.

VNI uses the digits row to add tone and other diacritical marks.

Bàn phím

Tone marks can be typed any time within the word after a vowel is typed. For example, to type "cá" (fish), you need to type "ca1"; to type "cà" (tomato), type "ca2". The tone does not need to directly follow the vowel, so to type "mạng" (web), you can either type "ma5ng", "man5g", or "mang5" (note that m5ang is not accepted).

number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
marks acute grave

hook

above

 tilde underdot circumflex horn

curved

breve

 cross bar

Similar to tone marks, they can be typed at any point after the letter that it is supposed to be placed on. You only need to type once if there are 2 horns in a word; for example, to type "Hương" (a female name ), type "Huong7". Circumflex (found in â, ê, ô) is 6. Horn (found in ơ, ư) is 7. Curved breve (found in ă) is 8. Crossbar (found in đ) is 9.

As an example, type "To6i te6n la2 Ta61m", we got "Tôi tên là Tấm"
Last modified: Saturday, 17 October 2020, 10:34 AM