# Tiếng / giờ: hours (length) in Vietnamese (A1)

> Vietnamese has two words for "hour". Giờ is the hour on the clock: hai giờ is two o'clock.

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/tieng-hours/ · Updated 2026-11-09

**hours (length)**

Pattern: `[number] + tiếng · [number] + giờ (clock, or formal duration)`

Level: A1 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: tieng, gio

Vietnamese has two words for "hour". *Giờ* is the hour on the clock: *hai giờ* is two o'clock. (On its own, *giờ* is also short for *bây giờ*, "now": *Giờ mình đi đâu?* Where are we going now?) *Tiếng* is an hour as a length of time: *hai tiếng* is two hours. In everyday speech, keep them apart, or *hai giờ* may be heard as a time.

*Tiếng* goes after the number, and like most lengths of time it usually comes after the verb: *Tôi chờ hai tiếng.* I waited two hours. Half an hour is *nửa tiếng*, and an hour and a half is *một tiếng rưỡi*. To ask, use *mấy tiếng*: *Đi Vũng Tàu mất mấy tiếng?* How many hours does it take to get to Vũng Tàu?

In writing, news and official notices, *giờ* is also used for a length: *làm việc 8 giờ một ngày*, work 8 hours a day. *Tiếng đồng hồ* and *giờ đồng hồ* (literally "clock hours") always mean a length: *ba tiếng đồng hồ*.

*Tiếng* has other meanings. Before a language it means language, as in *tiếng Việt*, and it is also a sound or a voice: *tiếng ồn*, noise. After a number it usually means hours.

## Examples

- Từ Sài Gòn đi Vũng Tàu mất hai tiếng. — It takes two hours from Saigon to Vũng Tàu.
- Tôi chờ anh nửa tiếng rồi. — I've been waiting for you for half an hour.
- Mỗi ngày em học tiếng Việt một tiếng. — I study Vietnamese for an hour every day.
- Phim bắt đầu lúc hai giờ, dài hai tiếng. — The film starts at two and lasts two hours.

## Words in this pattern

- [giờ](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/gio-hour/#s_gio_hour): hour
- [tiếng](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/tieng-language/#lx_tieng_hour): hour

## Compare

- [Telling the time: giờ, rưỡi, kém](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/telling-time/): clock time
- [How long goes after the verb: học hai năm, no 'for'](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/duration-after-verb/): duration after the verb

Previous in Time and when things happen: [Have you … yet? (đã) … chưa](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/da-chua-question/)
Next in Time and when things happen: [How long goes after the verb: học hai năm, no 'for'](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/duration-after-verb/)

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