A stall will say 120 ngàn, not "one hundred twenty thousand đồng." Here is how to count, ask the price, and hear the short forms in Langiri's number and market videos.
Based on videos with Ngân, Tâm, Ngọc, Hoàng Trâm, Linh, and Như Ý. Start with Ngân's Numbers in Vietnamese, then Tâm's Market Conversations. The first two number lessons and the whole market series are free.
Ngân's first Numbers in Vietnamese video is 1 through 9, with shopping and counting objects in the examples. Her second video takes you from 10 to 99: prices, age, and taxis.
Hoàng Trâm has a Northern counting video built on "I have + number + object." Use it after Ngân if you want the same numbers on household items.
Once you leave 99, Vietnamese stops being a straight list. Ngân's hundreds lesson is house numbers, hotel rooms, ages, and prices from 100 to 999. Her later recap from 1 to billions flags the readings that change: mốt, lăm, and linh / lẻ when a zero sits in the tens place.
On linh vs lẻ, Ngân notes which form is more common in the South. That pairs with the Northern vs. Southern guide.
Vietnamese prices look huge on a tag because the unit is đồng. Ngân's money videos are where the spoken shortcuts show up. In the tens- and hundreds-of-thousands lesson she uses nghìn instead of saying the full currency name, and she shows how people shorten a price at food stalls, coffee, and shops.
Millions are triệu and chục triệu (rent, salary, phones, motorbikes). House and car money is trăm triệu and tỷ, with short forms like một tỷ hai and hai tỷ rưỡi.
Tâm's Market Conversations series is the place to hear the question in a stall, not a chart. The first episode is school supplies. She drills Bạn muốn mua gì? and Cái này bao nhiêu tiền?, then roleplays Tui muốn mua cây thước and Tổng cộng 2 món này bao nhiêu tiền?
The fruit episode gives you Tôi muốn mua xoài plus the same price question. Cooking tools is the third stop. Save the clothes episode for bargaining.
Tâm's clothes-market video is the bargaining lesson. She tells you Vietnamese people usually say bớt một chút rather than giảm giá. The seller calls her con; she calls the seller cô.
Shirt: Cái áo này đẹp quá, bao nhiêu tiền một cái vậy cô? Answer: Áo này 120 ngàn một cái nha con. Tâm asks for 100 ngàn. The seller knocks it down because she is dễ thương. Jeans start at 200.000; they are a bit wide, so she asks for a smaller size. A dress starts at 180.000; she asks to bớt 20.000, and the seller takes 160.000 because it is đầu ngày.
100 ngàn nha cô
Ngọc's shirt dialogue is a boutique, start to finish: greeting, price, trying it on, fit, then tiền mặt or chuyển khoản. Linh's Northern clothing lesson adds rẻ vs đắt quá and trung tâm thương mại. Hoàng Trâm compares street coffee and a café with rẻ hơn / đắt hơn.
Ngọc also has a bakery stop where a tiramisu is 80 thousand đồng and she pays by card. Listen for the number; the official description is in English.
Như Ý's Everyday Vietnamese at the Supermarket series is less "how much is this mango" and more how people move through a store: browsing, asking a staff member, checking a discount, paying, and leaving. Soft lines from the series: vô coi chút thôi (just looking), chưa cần gấp (not urgent), and Cho mình hỏi… plus ạ when you need help.
Start with 1–9: một, hai, ba, bốn, năm, sáu, bảy, tám, chín. Ngân's first Numbers in Vietnamese video is that set. Her second video covers 10 to 99. Later episodes add hundreds, thousands, millions, and billions, plus the special readings mốt, lăm, and linh / lẻ.
The everyday question is "Cái này bao nhiêu tiền?" (How much is this?). Tâm uses it in her market series, and Ngọc uses the same line in a clothing-store dialogue. You can swap in the item: "Cây thước này giá bao nhiêu tiền?" or "Cái áo này bao nhiêu tiền?"
Both mean thousand. Ngân's money lesson uses nghìn when she explains everyday prices in đồng. In Tâm's clothes-market video the seller says "Áo này 120 ngàn một cái." Same amount, two common words. You will hear both.
Vendors often skip the word đồng and shorten the number. Tâm's market seller says "120 ngàn" for 120,000. Ngân's money videos show nghìn for tens and hundreds of thousands, triệu and chục triệu for millions, and short forms like "một tỷ hai" and "hai tỷ rưỡi" for house- and car-sized amounts.