Contents

Toùm löôïc ‘A Glance At The History Of The Vietnamese Language’ ............................................. 1

Boán ñaëc Tính ‘Four characteristics of the Vietnamese language’.................................................... 3

Baûng maãu töï ‘The alphabet’ .............................................................................................................. 6

Chöõ Hoa ‘The Cursive Form’; Practices 1a – 2a ............................................................................. 6
Baûng chính aâm ‘The Vowel Sounds Chart’; Practices 2b – 2d ...................................................... 8

Practices 3 – 3b ................................................................................................................................ 9
Chính Töï Vaø Chính AÂm ‘The Vowel Letters And Sounds’; Practices 4 –5 .................................. 10
Phuï Töï Vaø Phuï AÂm Ñaàu ‘The Intial Consonant Letters And Sounds’; Practices 6 – 26 ............. 11

Practice 26a (A through L)............................................................................................................... 20

Practices 27 – 33c ........................................................................................................................... 22

Toùm Taét Veà Caùch Ñaùnh Daáu Treân Caùc Chính Töï ‘A Summary Of Tonal Marks
On Single Vowels Final Consonants’ ........................................................................................... 28

Nhò Hôïp Töï Vaø Nhò Hôïp AÂm ‘Dyads and Diphthongs’; Practices 34 – 38 ................................ 30
Toùm Taét Veà Nhò Hôïp Töï ‘A Summary Of The Diphthongs’ .......................................................... 33
Tam Hôïp Töï Vaø Tam Hôïp AÂm ‘Triads and Triphthongs’; Practice 39 ......................................... 33
Nguyeân AÂm Vaø Baùn AÂm Trong Moät Tam Hôïp Töï ‘Primary And Semi-Vowels In
A Triphthong’; Practice 40 .......................................................................................................... 34
Toùm Taét Veà Tam Hôïp Töï ‘A Summary Of Vietnamese Triphthongs’; Practices 42 – 51 ........... 35
Toùm Taét Heä Thoáng Ngöõ AÂm Tieáng Vieät ‘A Summary Of The Vietnamese Sound System’ ....... 39
Test Yourself #1 .............................................................................................................................. 41
A Proverb A Day Coù coâng maøi saét coù ngaøy neân kim. ‘With perseverance ...’ .............................. 42

Vocabulary
Dialog One – Chaøo ‘Hello! ............................................................................................................. 44
Dialong Two – Teân baïn ñaùnh vaàn ra sao? ‘How Do You Spell Your Name?’ ........................... 44
Reading – Chò Oanh ‘Ms Oanh’ ...................................................................................................... 45
Grammar Notes Gì ‘what’; Chaøo ‘Hi’, Laø ‘be’, Xin hoûi ‘May I ask’, Toâi teân ‘My name ...’
Ra sao ‘how’, Xin loãi ‘Excuse me, I’m sorry, Pardon me’ .......................................................... 46
Common Personal Proforms: Toâi, anh, chò aáy, chuùng toâi, caùc baø, chuùng noù ... ......................... 48
Practices 1-1 – 1-10 ........................................................................................................................ 49
A Proverb A Day: Coù chí thì neân ‘Where there is a will, there ...’ ............................................... 53
Vocabulary
Dialog One – Xin loãi, baïn teân gì? ‘Excuse Me, What’s Your Name? ........................................... 55
Dialog Two – Cho toâi giôùi thieäu ‘May I Introduce To You?’ ........................................................ 56
Reading – Hai Ngöôøi Baïn ‘Two Friends’ ...................................................................................... 57
Grammar Notes: Loaïi töø ‘classifier’, sentences patterns; tense markers: ñang, seõ, ñaõ ................ 58

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Practices 2-1 – 2-10 ........................................................................................................................ 59
Test Yourself #2 ............................................................................................................................. 65
A Proverb A Day: Tieáng chaøo cao hôn maâm coã ........................................................................... 66
Vocabulary
Dialog One – Bao nhieâu ngoâi sao treân trôøi? ‘How Many Stars In The Sky?’ .............................. 68
Dialog Two – Baïn laø con thöù maáy trong gia ñình? ‘Where Are You In The Pecking Order?’ .. 69
Reading – Lôùp hoïc cuûa Oanh ‘Oanh’s Class’ ................................................................................. 70
Grammar Notes: Moãi ‘each’, chæ ‘only’, moät ‘one’, coù ‘have’, ñöøng ‘don’t’, maáy ‘how many’ .... 71
Practices 3-1 – 3-9 .......................................................................................................................... 73
Test Yourself #3 ............................................................................................................................. 79
A Proverb A Day: Mieáng ngon nhôù laâu, lôøi ñau nhôù ñôøi 'A tasty dish is ...’ .............................. 80
Vocabulary
Dialog One – Maáy giôø roài? ‘What Time Is It?’ ............................................................................... 82
Dialog Two – Sinh nhaät con laø ngaøy naøo, haû meï? ‘When Is My Birthday, Mom?’ ................... 84
Dialog Three: Maáy giôø anh ñeán ñoùn em ñöôïc? ‘What Time Will I Pick You Up?’ ..................... 85
Reading – Thôøi Gian Raát Quyù ‘Time Is Valuable’ ......................................................................... 86
Grammar Notes: Ai ‘who’, Coù, khoâng ‘yes-no compound verbs, punctuation ............................ 87
Pratices 4-1 – 4-10 .......................................................................................................................... 89
Test Yourself #4................................................................................................................................ 96
A Proverb A Day: Thôøi giôø thaám thoaùt nhö thoi ñöa ‘Time Flies So Fast ...’ .............................. 97
Vocabulary
Dialog One – Ñaây laø gia ñình toâi. ‘Here Is My Family’ ............................................................... 99
Dialog Two – Bao giôø con chò ra tröôøng? ‘When Will Your Son Graduate?’ ............................. 100
Dialog Three – Baïn coù bao nhieâu anh chò em? How Many Brothers And Sisters
Do You Have? ............................................................................................................................ 101
Reading – Gia Ñình Toâi ‘My Family’ ........................................................................................... 102
Grammar Notes: Coù phaûi khoâng; Expressive terms: aø, ñoù, haû ..., ñi; passive voice; ñaõ .......... 103
More Vocabulary About Kinship .................................................................................................. 105
Practices 5-1 – 5-12 ...................................................................................................................... 106
Test Yourself #5.............................................................................................................................. 113
A Proverb A Day: AÊn coù nhai, noùi coù nghó ‘Chew before Eating; Think before Saying’ ........... 114
Vocabulary
Dialog One – Mai thích maøu gì? ‘What Color Do You Like, Mai?’ ............................................. 116
Dialog Two – Boà maëc caùi aùo ñoù deã thöông quaù! ‘You Look Good In That Dress!’ .................. 117
READING – Mua Saém ÔÛ Khu Little Saigon ‘Shopping at Little Saigon’ ..................................... 118
Grammar Notes: Loaïi töø ‘classifier’, compound nouns; AOF; reflexives .................................... 120
Practices 6-1 – 6-12 ..................................................................................................................... 122
Test Yourself #6.............................................................................................................................. 130
A Proverb A Day: Coïp cheát ñeå da, ngöôøi ta cheát ñeå tieáng ‘Bad Reputation Last Long’ ............. 131
Vocabulary
Dialog One – Toái nay chuùng ta seõ ñi aên tieäm. ‘We’re Going To Eat Out Tonight.’ ................. 133
Dialog Two – Quyù vò muoán goïi moùn chöa? ‘Are You Ready To Order Now?’ .......................... 134
Dialog Three – Me ôi, con khoâng thích uoáng traø! ‘Mom, I Don’t Want to Drink Tea!’ . ........... 135
Reading – Ñi AÊn Tieäm “Eating at a Restaurant’ .......................................................................... 136
Grammar Notes: Taïi ‘at’; adjectives; compound nouns; adverb raát; question word ñaâu
‘where’, maø ‘but, that’; reciprocal proforms; sentence structure ............................................. 138

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 Pratices 7-1 – 7-10 ........................................................................................................................ 142
Test Yourself #7.............................................................................................................................. 150
A Proverb A Day: Tieân hoïc leã, haäu hoïc vaên ‘Learning to Behave before Learning to ...’ ........ 151
Vocabulary
Dialog One – Hoûi ñöôøng. ‘Asking for Directions’ ....................................................................... 153
Dialog Two – Ñi chôï ‘Going to the Market’ ................................................................................ 155
Dialog Three – ÔÛ trong chôï ‘At the Market’ ................................................................................. 156
Reading – Ngaøy Gioã Cha ‘Father’s Commemoration Day’ ......................................................... 158
Grammar Notes: Loaïi töø ‘classifier’; directional prepositions; nöõa/hôn ‘more’;
modal ñònh ‘going to’ (do something); past tense, parallelism ............................................. 160
Practices 8-1 – 8-10 ...................................................................................................................... 162
Test Yourself #8 ............................................................................................................................ 171
A Proverb A Day: Ñi moät ngaøy ñaøng, hoïc moät saøng khoân ‘The more you go, the more ...’ ... 172
Vocabulary
Dialog One – Taäp theå duïc buoåi saùng ‘Morning Exercises’ ........................................................ 174
Dialog Two – Bò beänh ‘Getting Sick’ ........................................................................................... 175
Dialog Three – Ñi khaùm baùc só ‘Going to the Doctor’ ................................................................ 176
Reading – Taäp Theå Duïc ‘Doing Physical Exercises’ ................................................................... 178
Grammar Notes: Caøng ... caøng ‘the more... the more’; thaáy ‘feel’; position of adverb raát
‘very’, cuõng ‘also’; understood subject; interjectional structure; adverb of uncertainty .......... 180
Practices 9-1 – 9-10 ..................................................................................................................... 183
Test Yourself #9.............................................................................................................................. 189
A Proverb A Day: Ñöùng nuùi naøy troâng nuùi noï ‘Grass in Greener ...’ ....................................... 190
Vocabulary
Dialog One – Taïi quaøy ‘At The Counter’ .................................................................................... 192
Dialog Two – Kyø keøo bôùt moät theâm hai ‘Haggling Over The Price’ .......................................... 194
Dialog Three – Toâi chòu heát noåi baïn roài! ‘I Can’t Stand You!’ ................................................... 196
Reading – Moät Ngaøy Xui Xeûo ‘A Really Bad Day’ ....................................................................... 198
Grammar Notes: Loaïi töø ‘classifier’; multi-verbs; interjections; imperative mood;
more about about passive voice; modal daùm ‘dare’; simple/compound adjectives ............. 200
Practices 10-1 – 10-10 .................................................................................................................. 203
Test Yourself #10............................................................................................................................ 209
A Proverb A Day: Lôøi noùi khoâng maát tieàn mua ‘Words Are Not Costly’..................................... 210

I. Vietnamese Family Names And Given Names ........................................................................ 211

II. Answer Key To Test Yourself ................................................................................................... 212
III. Scripts For Listening Practices ................................................................................................. 213
IV. Terms And Phrases Index ....................................................................................................... 217

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