Vietnamese punctuation


Vietnamese punctuation refers to the usage of punctuation marks in Vietnamese texts.

Historical punctuation

Historically, the Vietnamese language was written using chữ Nôm, a script that incorporated both Chinese characters and locally invented characters to represent native Vietnamese words. This writing system coexisted with Literary Chinese, which was the primary medium for official documents, scholarly works, and formal communication in Vietnam.
Text featured marks referred to as gia điểm, these marks were largely based on Chinese practices.
  • 句 - a mark that indicates a full stop at the end of a sentence. It is typically a circle or a dot in the bottom-right.
  • 讀 - a mark that indicates a pause similar to a comma. It is typically a dot or a circle in the bottom-right.
The usage of these two punctuation marks has some flexibility, varying between manuscripts. In some cases, both marks are positioned at the bottom right of the character, while in others, the mark 句 appears at the bottom right, and 讀 is placed at the bottom center. These usages may differ, there were also manuscripts that were not punctuated. Scholars had to either rely on line breaks in the text called 斷句 or their mastery of Literary Chinese grammar.

Annotation marks

There were also marks to denote alternative pronunciations, grammar, and errors.
  • 圈頭 - These marks were used to indicate what tone was to be used for the character. Circles are drawn at the four corners of the character indicating which tone it should be. For example: 分.
  • 草? - a pair of two marks used for shorthand. Often used in Vietnamese cursive, it either could represent repeated characters or a radical. An example is 頭 being written as.
  • 聯珠 - Continuous dots or circles along a sentence to highlight its importance, a type of emphasis mark.
  • 塗抹 - If a single character is marked with three dots; it signifies an error or mistake and the character is deleted.
  • and - These marks were used in written Vietnamese to indicate that the character was being used a phonetic approximation thus should be read with a different reading.
  • 乙 - a mark similar to a vertical tilde placed between two characters to indicate reversal of characters.
  • dấu vòng - an open circle mark used for respected figures.
  • dấu chấm ngươi - similar to the dấu vòng, it is used for common people. A dot is used between the characters.
  • dấu sổ - the slash mark indicates place names, dynasties.
  • dấu xen - a mark that indicates that a character is to be inserted.
Although undergoing current research, it has also been theorized that Vietnamese Literary Chinese texts were read in Vietnamese similar to Japanese kanbun kundoku with annotation marks appearing on the bottom-left after introductory topic phrases. Examples include marks marking 者 giả and 而 nhi are supposed to be read as thì and mà.

Modern punctuation

After Vietnam switched to the Vietnamese alphabet, European punctuation was adopted in favor of traditional punctuation.
  • dấu chấm - period, full stop ; used to mark end of a sentence.
  • dấu hỏi - question mark ; used at the end of an interrogative sentence.
  • dấu chấm than - exclamation mark ; used to express strong emotions, commands, or exclamations.
  • dấu lửng - ellipsis ; indicates an unfinished thought, hesitation, or omitted words.
  • dấu phẩy - comma ; Separates elements in a sentence, clarifies meaning, or indicates a pause.
  • dấu chấm phẩy - semicolon ; used to separate clauses in a complex sentence or list items that contain commas.
  • dấu hai chấm - colon ; introduces an explanation, a list, or a quotation.
  • dấu ngang - dash ; used to mark the boundary of a parenthetical element.
  • dấu gạch nối - hyphen ; used to link all syllable in polysyllabic loanwords e.g. Niu-tơn (Newton).
  • * It was also used to link multiple syllables in compound words and names, especially during the period when Latin Script started to be used. However, the usage of hyphens for linking compound words wasn't consistent, universal, and standardized, some writers or authors will use it consistently while others may use it relatively or partially. Nowadays, especially after 1975, Vietnamese texts in both Vietnam and overseas rarely use hyphens to connect compound words.
  • dấu ngoặc đơn - parentheses ; encloses additional information or clarifications.
  • dấu ngoặc kép - quotation marks ; used to enclose direct speech, quotes, or special terms.