I suppose we’ll start at the beginning of everything. When you meet someone, whether for the first time or the ninth, you would want to say Hi. So Hi, in Hmong, is Nyob zoo.

Let’s break it down.

Nyob

Nyob, in its simplest form, means to be, to stay, to live. Here, it is used in the context of to be.

There are three parts I’m going to address in the pronunciation of each word, the consonants at the beginning, the vowel in the middle, and the tone at the end.

• The way you pronounce ny is pretty basic. Think of the words canyon, or union. Take the ny in canyon, and ni in union, and you have the beginning of nyob.
• The o sounds just like the English short o. But if that is tough, then the aw is also similar enough for comparison. So think of words like flaw, thaw, and paw, and use that as the basis for pronouncing nyob.
• Now, for the b at the end. This is a tonal indicator. The best way I can think of right now to make sure you capture the correct tone is to just have you listen and repeat. So here is the audio clip again for the whole phrase.

Zoo

Zoo means good or well. Adding nyob to the beginning, you get the literal translation of be well.

• When you think of how to pronounce the z in Hmong, think of the word azure, or leisure, and take that z or s and apply it here.
• Oo is pronouned like the English ong, except you want to make it sound like the long o, not the short o.
• Lastly, the fact that it doesn’t have a letter at the end to cap off the tone does not mean that it is toneless. It is simply an indicator that this is a word with a neutral tone. Here is the phrase in its entirety again.