The 100 Most Common Vietnamese Words

These are the 100 most common Vietnamese words, ranked by how often they appear in real Vietnamese text and speech, drawn from published word-frequency research. Frequency-first learning works: a small core of high-frequency words does most of the work in everyday sentences, so mastering this list with spaced repetition gives you the fastest possible start.

#	Word	Pronunciation	English meaning
1	là	lah	be
2	của	koo-ah	of
3	và	vah	and
4	có	koh	have
5	không	khohng	not (negation)
6	tôi	toy	I
7	được	duhk	able
8	một	moht	one
9	người	nguh-ee	person
10	này	nahy	this
11	đó	doh	that
12	cho	chaw	give
13	với	vuh-ee	with
14	để	deh	for
15	cũng	koong	also
16	khi	khee	when
17	đã	dah	(completed-action particle)
18	sẽ	seh	will
19	anh	ahn	you
20	em	em	you
21	ta	tah	we
22	bạn	bahn	you
23	gì	zee	what
24	nói	noy	say
25	làm	lahm	do
26	đi	dee	go
27	thấy	tuhy	see
28	biết	byeht	know
29	muốn	mwohn	want
30	năm	nahm	year
31	ngày	ngahy	day
32	giờ	zuh	hour
33	tốt	toht	good
34	lớn	luhn	large
35	mới	muh-ee	new
36	việc	vyehk	work
37	nhiều	nyeh-oo	many
38	hai	hahy	two
39	trước	truhk	before
40	đâu	duh-oo	where
41	sao	sah-oo	why
42	rồi	roy	already
43	ở	uh	at
44	cùng	koong	together
45	nhà	nyah	home
46	sống	sohng	live
47	nay	nahy	today
48	khác	khahk	other
49	nhưng	nyuhng	but
50	vẫn	vuhn	still
51	rất	ruht	very
52	thì	tee	then (as for)
53	mà	mah	but (that)
54	như	nyuh	like (as)
55	về	veh	about (return to)
56	trong	trohng	in (inside of)
57	ra	rah	out (go out)
58	lại	lahy	again (back)
59	còn	kohn	still (remain)
60	chỉ	chee	only
61	nếu	neh-oo	if
62	vì	vee	because
63	phải	fahy	must
64	đang	dahng	(progressive particle)
65	đều	deh-oo	all (equally)
66	quá	kwah	too (excessively)
67	nữa	nuh-ah	more (again)
68	đừng	duhng	don't (prohibitive)
69	xin	seen	please
70	cảm ơn	kahm-uhn	thank you
71	ăn	ahn	eat
72	uống	oo-ohng	drink
73	mua	moo-ah	buy
74	học	hohk	learn (study)
75	đọc	dohk	read
76	viết	vyeht	write
77	nghe	ngeh	hear (listen)
78	hỏi	hoy	ask
79	giúp	zoop	help
80	đợi	duh-ee	wait
81	tìm	teem	look for
82	gặp	gahp	meet
83	yêu	yeh-oo	love
84	thích	teek	like (be fond of)
85	cần	kuhn	need
86	hiểu	hyeh-oo	understand
87	nhỏ	nyaw	small
88	đẹp	dep	beautiful
89	cao	kah-oo	tall (high)
90	đây	duhy	here
91	kia	kee-ah	there (over there)
92	ai	ahy	who
93	bây giờ	buhy-zuh	now
94	nước	nuhk	water
95	tiền	tyehn	money
96	tên	tehn	name
97	con	kohn	child
98	mẹ	meh	mother
99	tiếng	tyehng	language (sound)
100	nơi	nuh-ee	place

Show all 100 wordsShow the first 20

Ranked by lemma frequency in published Vietnamese corpus research; proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Pronunciation is a respelling guide, not phonetic notation.

Turn this list into flashcards Learn Vietnamese online How spaced repetition works

Frequently asked questions about Vietnamese words

How many Vietnamese words do you need for a basic conversation?

Frequency research shows the 1,000 most common words cover roughly 85 percent of everyday speech, and the top 100 alone appear in almost every sentence. You can manage simple exchanges with a few hundred words; this list is the foundation to build on.

What is the fastest way to memorize these 100 words?

Spaced repetition: review each word just before you would forget it, at growing intervals. It moves vocabulary into long-term memory far faster than rereading a list. Turn the 100 words into flashcards and review a small batch daily; the whole list fits into two to three weeks.

Are 100 words enough to speak Vietnamese?

No. One hundred words let you recognize the skeleton of most sentences, but not hold a real conversation. They are the right starting point: after this list, grow toward the most common 1,000 words and start speaking practice early, even with simple phrases.

Where does this Vietnamese word list come from?

From published Vietnamese word-frequency research: lemma-ranked corpus lists cleaned for learners, with proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Rankings are approximate, since real usage varies by region and register, but the core is stable across corpora.