Master all numbers, tell time, express dates, and use basic time words. Essential for every real-world interaction — from ordering food to making plans.
Memorize these ten words cold — every larger number is built from them. Vietnamese number words are short, regular, and logical. Click each card to flip it and see the pronunciation guide.
Your Pimsleur lessons this week open with time expressions — "lúc mấy giờ?" and clock-reading patterns. The numbers you learn here feed directly into every Pimsleur time dialogue. Do Lesson 11 today, then come back and practice the number cards above.
| Number | Vietnamese | Pronunciation guide | Notes |
|---|
Vietnamese counting from 1–10 is completely regular. After that: 11 = mười một (ten-one), 12 = mười hai (ten-two), and so on. At 21, you say: hai mươi mốt — notice mươi (no tone mark) replaces mười (falling tone) in 20s, 30s, etc. This is the only major irregularity you'll encounter.
Vietnamese numbers scale logically. Once you know the building blocks — trăm (hundred), nghìn/ngàn (thousand), triệu (million) — you can say any number. Use the builder below to hear how any number is constructed.
| Value | Vietnamese | Notes |
|---|
| Number | Vietnamese | Pattern | Watch out for |
|---|
Lăm replaces năm (5) when it's the units digit after a tens digit: 25 = hai mươi lăm (NOT hai mươi năm). Mốt replaces một (1) in the same position: 21 = hai mươi mốt. But 11 = mười một (uses một, not mốt). These two swaps catch almost every learner.
Vietnamese currency uses large numbers constantly. A bowl of phở costs 50,000–80,000 đồng. A hotel room might be 500,000–2,000,000 đồng/night. Practice saying: năm mươi nghìn (50,000), một triệu (1,000,000). You'll use these numbers from day one in Vietnam.
See a number, pick the Vietnamese word — or see a Vietnamese word and pick the number. Both directions build fluency. Try to get 8/10 before moving on.
This is the Week 4 tip from the curriculum: whenever you pick up your phone, count how many apps are open. When you eat, count bites. When you walk, count steps in sets of ten. Narrate in Vietnamese: một, hai, ba, bốn, năm... This builds number fluency faster than any drill because it's tied to real actions.
Vietnamese tells time simply and logically. The core structure is: [number] giờ [minutes] phút. Drag the sliders to set a time and see exactly how to say it in Vietnamese.
The Numbers unit on VietnamesePod101 covers: counting 1–100, prices at markets, asking what time it is, and scheduling appointments. Each lesson has a dialogue to listen to 3 times before reading the transcript. This week's Pimsleur lessons (11–15) overlap significantly — the two reinforce each other perfectly.
Vietnamese time expressions are essential from day one. These words connect your vocabulary into real sentences. Learn them in clusters — past, present, future — not as a random list.
Vietnamese time expressions usually come first in the sentence: Hôm nay tôi ăn phở. (Today I eat pho.) Notice the time word anchors the sentence before the pronoun and verb. This is the opposite of "I eat pho today" in English. Get this word order right from the start.
Vietnamese days are numbered, not named — except Sunday. Monday = Thứ Hai (Second Day), Tuesday = Thứ Ba (Third Day), all the way to Saturday = Thứ Bảy (Seventh Day). Sunday breaks the pattern: Chủ Nhật (Lord's Day — a Christian influence). Click a day to expand its details.
Monday through Saturday follows a perfect sequence: thứ hai (2), thứ ba (3), thứ tư (4), thứ năm (5), thứ sáu (6), thứ bảy (7). If you know numbers 2–7, you already know six of the seven days. The only exception is Chủ Nhật (Sunday). This is one of the most learner-friendly features of Vietnamese.
Just like days, Vietnamese months are numbered: tháng một (month one) through tháng mười hai (month twelve). Even simpler than English — no names to memorize, just numbers. The current month is highlighted below.
Tết Nguyên Đán (Lunar New Year) falls on different dates each year in January or February. It's not month 1, day 1 of the solar calendar — it follows the lunar calendar. You'll hear Tết constantly in Vietnamese conversation. The correct phrase is: Chúc mừng năm mới! (Happy New Year!)
Vietnamese date order is the same as in most of continental Europe: Day → Month → Year. The key words are ngày (day), tháng (month), and năm (year). Click the buttons to practice different dates.
| Word | Meaning | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ngày | day | ngày 15 | Always comes before the number in dates |
| tháng | month | tháng ba | Month 3 = March; tháng + number |
| năm | year | năm 2025 | Read digits individually: hai không hai lăm |
| hôm nay | today | hôm nay là ngày mấy? | What date is today? |
| thứ | day-of-week marker | thứ hai | thứ + day number (2–7) |
| ngày sinh | birthday / date of birth | ngày sinh của bạn? | What's your birthday? |
| tuần | week | tuần này, tuần sau | this week, next week |
Flip through the Week 4 cards. Rate yourself honestly — "Again" if you hesitated more than 2 seconds. These align with the Anki Numbers Deck recommended in the curriculum.
The curriculum recommends a dedicated Anki numbers deck for Week 4. On AnkiWeb, search for "Vietnamese numbers" — there are several good pre-made decks. Alternatively, add the Week 4 vocab from this page into your Core 2000 deck as a special tagged subset. Target: 15 new cards/day this week, reviewed every morning.
Real language practice: type the missing Vietnamese word or number. These sentences use patterns from Pimsleur Lessons 11–15 and the VietnamesePod101 Numbers unit.
Check off each word as you feel confident with it — meaning, usage, and rough pronunciation. Aim to check off all 40 before starting Week 5.
Week 4 introduces number drills alongside your existing Pimsleur + VietnamesePod101 routine. Check off activities as you complete them. The counting objects habit (see the Tip below) is done all day, every day.
From the Week 4 curriculum tip: "Practice counting objects around you all day." Set a phone reminder every 2 hours. When it goes off, count 10 objects near you in Vietnamese: một, hai, ba... This is passive language training that takes zero extra study time and builds number fluency faster than any drill.
Three core resources this week. Pimsleur and VietnamesePod101 are your daily anchors. The Anki numbers deck is the new addition — set it up today.
Check off each item as you genuinely master it. Week 5 (Core Verbs & Basic Sentences) assumes you can count reliably and tell time.