Initials and Finals

Pinyin is very useful for learning the sounds of Chinese words. But be careful: each pinyin syllable has a very specific pronunciation, which may be different from the pronunciation you would expect in English or other languages. Pinyin uses 21 consonants or sets of consonants to represent the beginning of the word: these are called initials. There are also 37 vowels or sets of vowels representing the end of the word: these are called finals. Every syllable in Mandarin has an ‘initial’ and a ‘final’; in total the language uses about 420 different sounds.

Example:
The word for “Flower” expressed in pinyin is: huā

In this word, the letter “h” is the initial and “uā” is the final.

Words are often combined to form compound words

The word for “China” expressed in pinyin is: zhōngguó

zhōng means middle.
Initial: “zh”
Final: “ōng”

guó means country.
Initial: “g”
Final: “uó”

Initials

Pronunciation Hint:

The consonants /initials :b,ch,d,f,g,h,k,l,m,n,p,s,sh,t,w,y can all be read as in English

The letter below follow these special pronunciation rules:

c     is like ts in hats

j      is like the j in jeans

q     is like ch in cheek,with a puff of air

x     is best described as a hissing cross between s and sh,with a puff of air(There is no similar sound in English)

z     is like ds in lids

zh is like a burly j sound,sort of like the g sound in German(similar in tongue position to the ‘ch’ and’sh’)

r      is like the ur in pleasure(in American English)

Finals

Pronunciation Hint:

The vowel sounds in Chinese are actually more consistent when written in pinyin than when they are written in English.

a         like the a in far

e         on its own is a bit like ug or the French oe in oeuf,but when used as a final it is like the e in yes

i         like ee in free,but after ch,c,zh,z,sh and s is like the i in rip

o         like the o in more

u         like the u in flute,but like ü when after q,j,x

ü         like the French tu

Combined Letters:

an         like ahn

ang        like ahng

en         like the un in under

eng        like ung in rung

er         like er in murder

ian        like yen

iang       like yahng

in         like ean in mean

ing        like the ing in bling-bling

iong       like yohng

uan        like oowahn(or oowen after x,j,and q)

uang       like wahng

un         oohn

üan        like you ahn

     Many of these combined vowel sounds(aka diphthongs)are unlike their English pronunciations and must be memorized.

ai          like eye

ao          like ow in cow

ei          like ay in hay

ia          like ya in yard

ie          like ye in yesterday

iao         like iao in miaow

iu          like ew in pew

ou          like oh

ua          like wa in waddle

uai         like why

ue          like you a in you ape

ui          like ay in spay

uo          like oi in coiffed

üe          like ew e in new egg