The six tones
Every Vietnamese syllable carries one of six tones, described by Chao tone numbers that trace the pitch from start to finish on a 1 to 5 scale. The tone mark tells you which one: no mark, acute, grave, hook, tilde, or dot below. Two of them dip, two of them rise, and two of them fall, which is why the confusable pairs are the ones that share a shape.
- Tone 1, ngang, mid flat (33, no mark): sing one steady note in the middle of your range. Example: ma, ghost.
- Tone 2, sac, mid rising (35, acute): start in the middle and climb to near the top, sharp and tense. Example: má, cheek.
- Tone 3, huyen, low falling (21, grave): start low-mid and drop to the bottom, smooth and breathy, held for a full beat. Example: mà, but.
- Tone 4, hoi, falling then rising (313, hook): dip down low, then rise back up to the middle. Do not climb to the top: that would be nga. Example: mả, tomb.
- Tone 5, nga, dipping then rising high (3-5 with a break, tilde): dip slightly, then climb all the way to the top, with a creaky catch in the middle. Example: mã, horse.
- Tone 6, nang, short low falling (3-2 with a stop, dot below): drop fast from low-mid and cut it off short, with a quick stop, like a heavy thud. Example: mạ, rice seedling.
Vietnamese Tone Trainer judges your pitch against the target's level AND shape. A low voice and a high voice are both judged against their own calibrated range, so the check works for any voice.
Calibrate your voice range first
Before practising, press Set my voice range and slide slowly from your lowest to your highest comfortable note, saying a steady "ahhh" while you slide. The app measures your range from that slide and grades every later utterance against it: 1.0 means the top of your range, 0.0 the bottom. This is what makes the level tones gradeable: ngang sits near 0.55, sac climbs from 0.55 to 0.94, huyen falls from 0.38 to 0.05. Without calibration, a flat tone at any height could be any tone. You can recalibrate any time in Settings, and your range is stored only on your device.
The 18 syllables
Three everyday syllables, each in all six tones, so you hear how the tone alone changes the word:
- ma: ma ghost, má cheek, mà but, mả tomb, mã horse, mạ rice seedling.
- ba: ba three, bá to embrace, bà grandmother, bả bait, bã residue, bạ to strengthen.
- ta: ta we, us, tá in tá hỏa, panicked, tà evil; slanted, tả to describe, tã diaper, tạ to thank.
Tone pairs: 12 real words on the hard contrasts
Knowing single tones is only half the skill. In real speech, tones come in pairs, and the practice words are chosen to drill the confusable contrasts: hoi vs nga, sac vs nga, and huyen vs nang.
- Hoi vs nga: mã số code number (5-2), đã rõ understood (5-4), sữa đá iced milk (4-2).
- Ngang vs sac: xin chào hello (1-3), ngon lắm very tasty (1-2), mưa to heavy rain (1-1).
- With huyen: bánh mì bread (2-3), cà phê coffee (3-1), phở bò beef pho (4-3).
- With nang: tạm biệt goodbye (6-6), mẹ ơi mum! (6-1), cảm ơn thank you (4-1).
Tone pairs unlock at 50 points, after you have the single tones down. The app splits your utterance at the gap between syllables and checks each half against its target tone. If the first syllable is right and the second is wrong, the hint says so: Second syllable, then the named fix.
How the live check works
Your browser samples the microphone and measures your pitch with autocorrelation, a standard signal-processing method that finds how often your voice waveform repeats. No model is downloaded and no audio is sent anywhere. Your pitch contour is measured against your calibrated range and compared to the six standard target shapes. A match needs a close fit and a clear margin over the next-best tone; a contour sitting halfway between ngang and sac is honestly reported as unclear rather than guessed. Press Hear the target to hear any tone shape as a gliding tone placed inside your own range before you say it.
Huyen vs nang: the length difference
Huyen and nang have nearly the same pitch contour: both fall from low-mid. What tells them apart is length and voice quality. Nang is short and clipped, cut off with a glottal stop; huyen is held smooth for a full beat, often with a breathy voice. This app grades the pitch contour, and when the pitch scores for huyen and nang are nearly tied it uses duration as the tiebreak: under about 0.7 seconds favours nang, over about 0.9 seconds favours huyen, and in between it says so honestly instead of guessing. In real speech, listen for the stop: nang ends abruptly, huyen rings out.
Quiz, points, levels and badges
Quiz mode asks for 8 items in a random order: +10 points per match, +20 bonus for a perfect round. Levels run New Voice, Tone Learner, Tone Star, and Master of Vietnamese Tones. Badges cover the first matched tone, practising all 18 syllables, practising all 12 tone pairs, a perfect quiz round, and practising on seven days in a row. Confetti and chimes celebrate wins, and both can be turned off in Settings. Practice stays the core: the games are there to pull you back for one more tone.
Your voice never leaves your device
Voice frames are analysed on your device and discarded. The page security policy blocks connections to every outside server. There is no account, no analytics, no recording, and no cookie. The built-in Offline proof panel shows a live log of every network request the page makes, lets you simulate a fully offline session, shows exactly what is stored on your device, and deletes it all with one button. The app works offline after your first visit. Pitch tracking approximates tones, and regional variation exists: the target shapes describe standard Northern (Hanoi) citation tones, and in much of the South, hoi and nga sound alike. Native-speaker review is being sought in parallel, not as a gate.
Learning Mandarin too? Try the Mandarin Tone Trainer, the same live pitch feedback for Mandarin's four tones. For Cantonese, Cantonese Tone Trainer coaches all six Cantonese tones the same private, on-device way. Learning Thai too? Try the Thai Tone Trainer, the same live pitch feedback for Thai's five tones. For sign language, Fingerspell teaches the ASL alphabet. Learning Japanese pitch accent too? Try the Japanese Pitch Accent Trainer, which coaches Tokyo pitch patterns with the same private, on-device feedback. Learning Taiwanese Hokkien too? Try the Taiwanese Hokkien Tone Trainer, which coaches all seven Hokkien tones the same private, on-device way. Learning Yoruba too? Try the Yoruba Tone Trainer, which coaches Yoruba's three tones the same private, on-device way.
This is a home practice tool, not a teacher, therapist or safety device. Everything runs on your device: no video, audio or images are sent anywhere. Feedback is automatic and can be wrong. For real instruction, learn from a qualified Vietnamese teacher or a native-speaker community, linked on the Resources page.