Vietnamese

Verb

đánh vần

1. (linguistics) to spell a Vietnamese syllable as you pronounce it

   Cách đánh vần từ "toán": o a nờ oan, t oan toan sắc toán

Usage notes

• This word is frequently simplistically used to translate the English verb to spell, although to spell a word does not mean to pronounce it.
• To đánh vần a syllable, first you spell the rhyme (and also any letter that represents the glide phoneme /w/, except as in qu /kw/, if any); then you pronounce the rhyme:
  • As in the above example of the word toán, you list three letters: "o" (letter o) for the glide /w/, "a" (letter "a") and "nờ" (letter n) for the rhyme; then you you pronounce "oan".
• Secondly, you add the initial consonant letter, pronounce the outcome syllable, then add the tone, then pronounce the final outcome.
  • After you have "oan", you say "tờ" (letter t), then say "toan", then say "sắc" (sắc tone), then finish by saying "toán'.
• To sum up, this is what you say to đánh vần the word toán: "o (letter o) a (letter a) nờ (letter n) oan, tờ (letter t) oan toan sắc (sắc tone) toán".