in these extended vocabulary items the symbol ~ is used to represent the English headword:
pace 1 n. bước đi; dáng/cách đi; tốc độ, nhịp độ: to keep ~ with theo/ sánh kịp; to set the ~ nêu gương; to go at a walking ~ đi từng bước; to go the ~ đi nhanh; ăn chơi phóng đãng; to put someone through his/her ~s thử tài ai, thử sức ai; cho ai thi thố tài năng 2 v. đi từng bước, bước từng bước: to ~ up and down the corridors đi đi lại lại dọc theo hành lang
For the Vietnamese–English section, the extended vocabulary items are separated by semi-colons:
ra 1 v. [SV xuất] to exit, to go out, to come out; to go [out] into, to come [out] into; to look, to become; to issue [order lệnh], to give [signal hiệu, assignment bài]: ra bể to go to the sea; ra sân to go [out of the house] into the yard; ra đường to go out in the street; ra dáng … to look 2 adv. out, outside, forth: không ra gì, chẳng ra gì to amount to nothing; chẳng ra hồn to be worth nothing; bày ra to display, to show off; béo ra to get fat; đỏ ra to become red; nói ra to speak up; nhìn ra, nhận ra to recognize; nhớ ra to remember, to call forth; tìm ra, kiếm ra to find out; trở ra to be out; lối ra “Exit, do not enter.”; cửa ra vào door; ra vô thong thả admission is free.; hiện ra to appear; sinh ra, đẻ ra to be born, to give birth to; hoá ra to become; it turns out that; thành ra to come out; chia ra to divide up, to divide into
5. There are a variety of terms used to address the first and second persons in Vietnamese. As shown by the following example:
bà 1 n. [SV tổ mẫu] grandmother; female: bà ngoại maternal grandmother; bà nội paternal grandmother; đàn bà woman, women; Hai Bà Trưng the Trung sisters 2 pron. lady/you [used by grandchild to grandmother, first person pronoun being cháu]; I [used by grandmother to grandchild, second person pronoun being cháu]; you [used to refer to women of a certain age, first person pronoun being tôi]
tôi is used for the first person and cháu for the second person. The reader can replace these terms with ông, bà, anh, chị, em, tau, mày... depending on age and relationship between the first and second persons.
6. Vietnamese words that are loanwords have their Vietnamese pronunciation connected by hyphens (-), for example:
a-xít n. acid
ki-lô n. [Fr. kilogram] kilogram
7. Abbreviations used in this Dictionary are as follows:
| Abbreviations | Full word | Vietnamese equivalent |
| adj. | adjective | tính từ |
| adv. | adverb | phụ từ |
| conj. | conjunction | kết từ |
| intj. | interjection | cảm từ |
| n. | noun | danh từ |
| pl. | plural | số nhiểu |
| prep. | preposition | giới từ |
| pron. | pronoun | đại từ |
| sing | singular | số ít |
| v. | verb | động từ |
| num. | numeral | số từ |
A Guide to Vietnamese Pronunciation
Vietnamese is a tonal language where no word is conjugated. The Vietnamese alphabet has 29 letters:
a, ă, â, b, c, d, đ, e, ê, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, ô, ơ, p, q, r, s, t, u, ư, v, x, y.
The Vietnamese consonants are written as single letters or a cluster of two or three letters, as follows:
b, c, ch, d, đ, g, gh, gi, h, k, kh, l, m, n, ng, ngh, nh, p, ph, qu, r, s, t, th, tr, v, x.
The vowels in Vietnamese are the following: a, ă, â, e, ê, i/y, o, ô, ơ, u, ư. Vowels can also be grouped together to form a cluster or a word.
The following tables show the vowels and consonants in Vietnamese pronunciation with their English equivalents.
Vowels
| Vietnamese | English | Example | Meaning |
| a | father | ba | three |
| ă | hat | ăn | to eat |
| â | but | âm | sound |
| e | bet | em | younger brother/sister |
| ê | may | đêm | night |
| i/y | me | kim | needle |
| o | law | lo | to worry |
| ô | no | cô | aunt |
| ơ | fur | bơ | butter |
| u | too | ngu | stupid |
| ư | uh-uh | thư | letter |
Consonants
| Vietnamese | English | Example | Meaning |
| b | book | bút | pen |
| c, k, q | can | cá | fish |
| kem | ice-cream | ||
| quý | precious | ||
| ch | chore | cho | to give |
| d, gi | zero | da | skin |
| gì | what | ||
| đ | do | đi | to go |
| g/gh |
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