In the modern language the native Vietnamese vocabulary is used for both everyday counting and mathematical purposes.
For non-official purposes prior to the 20th century, Vietnamese had a writing system known as Hán-Nôm.
The following table is an overview of the basic Vietnamese numeric figures, provided in both native and Sino-Vietnamese counting systems.
There are slight differences between the Hanoi and Saigon dialects of Vietnamese, readings between each are differentiated below.
In formal cases, the ordinal number with the structure "đệ (第) + Sino-Vietnamese numbers" is used, especially in calling the generation of monarches, with an example being Nữ vương Elizabeth đệ nhị (女王 Elizabeth 第二) (Queen Elizabeth II), or the Second Spanish Republic being called Đệ nhị Cộng hoà Tây Ban Nha (第二共和西班牙).