Vietnamese numerals


Historically Vietnamese has two sets of numbers: one is etymologically native Vietnamese; the other uses Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary. In the modern language the native Vietnamese vocabulary is used for both everyday counting and mathematical purposes. The Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary is used only in fixed expressions or in Sino-Vietnamese words. This is somewhat analogous to the way in which Latin and Greek numerals are used in modern English. Sino-Vietnamese words are also used for units of ten thousand or above, where native vocabulary was lacking.

Concept

Among the languages of the Chinese cultural sphere, Japanese and Korean both use two numerical systems, one native and one Chinese-based. The Chinese-based vocabulary is the one in common use. In Vietnamese, on the other hand, the Chinese-based system is not in everyday use. Numbers from 1 to 1000 are expressed using native Vietnamese vocabulary, and only a few numbers are based on Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary.
In the modern Vietnamese writing system, numbers are written in the romanized script quốc ngữ or Arabic numerals. Prior to the 20th century Vietnam officially used Classical Chinese as a written language, using Chinese characters to write Sino-Vietnamese numbers. For non-official purposes Vietnamese also had a writing system known as Hán-Nôm. Under this system, Sino-Vietnamese numbers were written in Hán tự and native vocabulary was written in a system of modified Chinese characters known as Chữ Nôm.

Basic figures

Basic features of the Vietnamese numbering system include the following:
The following table is an overview of the basic Vietnamese numeric figures, provided in both Native and Sino-Viet forms. For each number, the form that is more commonly used is highlighted. Where there are differences between the Hanoi and Saigon dialects of Vietnamese, readings between each are differentiated below within the notes.

Other figures

NumberQuốc NgữHán-NômNotes
11mười một??
12mười hai • một tá?? • ? tá"một tá／? tá" is often used within mathematics-related occasions, to which "tá" represents the foreign loanword "dozen".
14mười bốn • mười tư?? • ?四"mười tư／?四" is often used within literature-related occasions, to which "tư／四" forms part of the Sino-Viet vocabulary.
15mười lăm??Here, five is pronounced "lăm", or also "nhăm" by some speakers in the north.
19mười chín??
20hai mươi • hai chục?? • ??
21hai mươi mốt???For numbers which include the digit 1 from 21 to 91, the number 1 is pronounced "mốt".
24hai mươi tư??四When the digit 4 appears in numbers after 20 as the last digit of a 3-digit group, it is more common to use "tư／四".
25hai mươi lăm???Here, five is pronounced "lăm".
50năm mươi • năm chục?? • ??When "?" appears after the number 20, the pronunciation changes to "mươi".
101một trăm linh một • một trăm lẻ một??零? • ????Although "một trăm linh một／??零?" is the standard form, it is more commonly used in Northern Vietnam, where "linh／零" forms part of the Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary; "một trăm lẻ một／????" is more commonly used in the South.
1001một nghìn không trăm linh một • một nghìn không trăm lẻ một??空?零? • ??空???When the hundreds digit is occupied by a zero, these are expressed using "không trăm／空?".
10055mười nghìn không trăm năm mươi lăm??空????

Vietnamese ordinal numbers are generally preceded by the prefix "thứ", which is a Sino-Viet word which corresponds to "次". For the ordinal numbers of one and four, the Sino-Viet readings "nhất／一" and "tư／四" are more commonly used; two is occasionally rendered using the Sino-Viet "nhì／二". In all other cases, the native Vietnamese number is used.
Ordinal numberQuốc NgữHán-Nôm
1stthứ nhất次一
2ndthứ hai • thứ nhì次? • 次二
3rdthứ ba次?
4ththứ tư次四
5ththứ năm次?
nththứ "n"次「n」

Footnotes