Book excerpt: Vietnamese: An Essential Grammar is a concise and user-friendly reference guide to modern Vietnamese. It presents a fresh and accessible description of the language in short, readable sections. Features include: Clear and up-to-date examples of modern usage. Special attention to those points which often cause problems to English-speaking learners. Vietnamese / English comparisons and contrasts highlighted throughout. The final section covers pronunciation, providing an introduction to the syllable structure of Vietnamese, and highlighting common errors made by English-speaking learners. Accompanying audio tracks for this chapter are available at www.routledge.com/9781138210707. Vietnamese: An Essential Grammar is ideal for learners involved in independent study and for students in schools, colleges, universities and adult classes of all types.