How to Say "Water" in Vietnamese

nước

[nɨək̚˧˦]

The Vietnamese word for water is nước.

nước refers to the inorganic compound H₂O. This term is widely used and understood throughout Vietnam.

Meaning: inorganic compound H₂O (noun)

Which one should you use?

While nước is the noun for water, the verb tưới is used specifically when you are performing the action of watering plants.

In Vietnamese, the word nước means both 'water' and 'country'. This reflects an ancient conceptual link between a territory and the water sources that sustain it.
Ancient Vietnamese texts used the Chinese character 渃 to write the word nước. This represents a period when the language was written using modified Chinese characters before the current Latin-based alphabet.
In some Vietnamese dialects, such as those in the Nghệ An or Hà Tĩnh regions, the word for water is pronounced as nác instead of the standard nước.

Nước đổ đầu vịt.
It's like water on a duck's back.
This sentence shows an idiom using nước.
Tatoeba #619166 by autuno, translation #619169 by autuno
Nước bị cắt rồi.
The water has been cut off.
This sentence demonstrates how to say that the water supply has been cut off using nước.
Tatoeba #9985055 by dotheduyet1999, translation #276773 by CK
Lấy nước cho tôi.
Give me water.
This sentence is useful for requesting nước.
Tatoeba #13341099 by leucammieuvu, translation #3658519 by avshelar26
Bạn có thể cho tôi một ly nước không?
Can you give me a glass of water, please?
Tôi muốn uống nước trà.
I want to drink tea.
Cậu có nước không?
Do you have any water?
Tớ thèm nước trà.
I crave some tea.
103 more sentences on Tatoeba

Lan and Hùng are sitting at a dining table.

Sources

Wiktionary, “water” translations and entries nước, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
Word origins: Wiktionary entries nước, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.

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