mươi

Tens

Level 1

In Vietnamese, you indicate the tens place for numbers 20 and above by placing mươi after a number from 2 to 9. For example, hai mươi means 20 (two tens), and một trăm hai mươi means 120.

How It Works

Mươi is the standard word for 'tens' in numbers 20 and above. However, in casual spoken Vietnamese, people often drop mươi completely when there is a unit digit (saying hai lăm instead of hai mươi lăm). Note that you cannot drop mươi if there is no unit digit; for round tens like 20, you must say hai mươi or replace it with chục (e.g., hai chục). The word chục is very common in daily speech for counting items and money, whereas mươi is much more common for stating age. Additionally, in casual speech (especially in Southern Vietnamese), hai mươi is often contracted to hăm and ba mươi to băm. Note that this contraction pattern only applies to 20 and 30; numbers 40 and above (like bốn mươi) do not have equivalent single-syllable contractions. These contractions are often used with unit digits (e.g., hăm lăm for 25), larger units (e.g., hăm ngàn for 20,000), or even standalone for age (e.g., tuổi băm for being in one's thirties).

Be careful with your tones! Mươi (flat tone) is the multiplier for 20 and above, while mười (falling tone) is the number 10 and the base for numbers 11 to 19. You cannot say một mươi for 10; you must use mười (though một chục is acceptable).

Finally, mươi can also be used on its own before a noun to mean 'about ten' (e.g., độ mươi ngày = about ten days). You will also frequently hear the compound mấy mươi (how many tens / decades), which is used to ask about or refer to an unspecified multiple of ten.

Examples (5)

  1. Năm nay bà ấy tám mươi tuổi.

    She is eighty years old this year.

    Word by Word: Year this grandmother that eight tens age.

    A standard round ten using mươi.

  2. Cái áo này giá hai mươi lăm ngàn.

    This shirt costs twenty-five thousand.

    Word by Word: Classifier shirt this price two tens five thousand.

    Notice how 5 changes to 'lăm' after mươi.

  3. Lớp tôi có ba mươi mốt học sinh.

    My class has thirty-one students.

    Word by Word: Class I have three tens one student.

    Notice how 1 changes to 'mốt' after mươi.

  4. Anh ấy mua hai mươi tư quyển sách.

    He bought twenty-four books.

    Word by Word: Brother that buy two tens four classifier book.

    Notice how 4 often changes to 'tư' after mươi.

  5. Tôi sẽ đi công tác độ mươi ngày.

    I will go on a business trip for about ten days.

    Word by Word: I will go work about ten days.

    Mươi used independently to mean 'approximately ten'.

Common Mistakes

  • Pronouncing 'mươi' with a falling tone ('mười').

    hai mười
    hai mươi

    Mười (falling tone) is used for the number 10 and as the base for the teens (11-19). To say 20, 30, 120, etc., you must use mươi (flat tone). 'Hai mười' literally sounds like 'two ten' and is incorrect.

  • Forgetting to change 'năm' (5) to 'lăm' after 'mươi'.

    ba mươi năm
    ba mươi lăm

    To avoid confusion with the word for 'year' (năm), the number 5 changes to lăm when it follows mươi.

  • Saying 'một mươi' for the number 10.

    một mươi
    mười

    You cannot use mươi to say 10. The number 10 is simply mười. While you can say một chục (one ten) when counting items, một mươi is always incorrect.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

mươiLevel 1Tens

Learn This First

To understand 'mươi', learners first need to know the basic counting frame in Vietnamese and be familiar with the standard word for ten (mười) to recognize how it changes when forming multiples of ten.

Words in This Pattern

mươi