Vietnamese numbers from 0 to 100

What you will learn

Numbers are essential for prices, phone numbers, addresses, ages and time. Vietnamese number building is quite regular, but a few forms change in certain positions.

1. Numbers 0–10

• 0 — không
• 1 — một
• 2 — hai
• 3 — ba
• 4 — bốn
• 5 — năm
• 6 — sáu
• 7 — bảy
• 8 — tám
• 9 — chín
• 10 — mười

2. Eleven to nineteen

Use mười + number:

• 11 — mười một
• 12 — mười hai
• 15 — mười lăm
• 19 — mười chín

Notice that 5 becomes lăm after the tens unit in these combinations.

3. Tens

Use number + mươi:

• 20 — hai mươi
• 30 — ba mươi
• 40 — bốn mươi
• 50 — năm mươi
• 90 — chín mươi

4. Mốt, tư and lăm

Three forms deserve attention:

• 21 — hai mươi mốt
• 24 — hai mươi bốn or commonly hai mươi tư
• 25 — hai mươi lăm

Mốt is used for 1 after many tens combinations. Lăm is used for 5. Tư is a common variant for 4 in some compound numbers.

5. A shopping example

Khách: Cái này bao nhiêu tiền?

Người bán: Hai mươi lăm nghìn.

Khách: Còn cái kia?

Người bán: Ba mươi nghìn.

6. Useful vocabulary

• mười — ten
• mươi — tens unit in 20, 30, etc.
• mốt — form of one in many compound numbers
• lăm — form of five in compound numbers
• nghìn / ngàn — thousand; regional preference varies
• trăm — hundred
• bao nhiêu — how much / how many
• tiền — money

7. Phone numbers

Phone numbers are usually read digit by digit or in natural number groupings. You should first become comfortable recognizing individual digits quickly. In phone-number contexts, zero may also be heard as ô in some informal usage, but beginners should master không first.

8. Common beginner mistakes

• Saying hai mươi một instead of the common hai mươi mốt.
• Forgetting lăm in numbers such as 25.
• Trying to translate number grouping from English without listening to Vietnamese usage.

9. Vietnam in real life

Prices in everyday conversation are often shortened when the unit is obvious. A seller may say hai mươi in a context where everyone understands that the intended amount is twenty thousand đồng. As a learner, confirm the unit whenever the situation is unclear.

Try it

1. Say 13, 21, 25, 38 and 99.
2. Read your age in Vietnamese.
3. Read the final four digits of a phone number.
4. Practice the question Cái này bao nhiêu tiền?

Quick recap

Vietnamese numbers are systematic. Learn 0–10, then tens, then pay special attention to mốt, tư, lăm. Real-life prices add one more skill: understanding when a unit has been left implicit.