Pronunciation - Initials + Finals

After learning the pronunciation of initials and finals in pinyin, lets combine them to produce a proper sound of Chinese character.

However in Chinese language, NOT  any combination of any initials and finals will produce a valid word.

Using initial “m” as example:

ma : ma-rk

mi : mi-ss

mu : moo

me : no word

mo : mo-p

mai : my

mao : mal-function

mei : may

mia : no word

mie : mee-e (e sound as e-skimo)

miu : mu-sic

mou : most-oo

mua : no word

mue : no word

mui : no word

muo : no word

You may be worry that how to know which combination of initials and finals are valid or not valid. Actually it is not necessary to memorize this now. As you hear and learn more Chinese language, you will automatically know it.

However, there are some important rules in Chinese pinyin that you should know, in order to learn the language more easily.

In English, “q” is a special alphabet because it can only follow by “u” when forming a word, such as “queen” & “quote”.

In Chinese pinyin, such “almost similar” rule exists. There are a few special groups of consonants / initials that you should know. 

First special rule: j, q, x

The finals after these 3 initials (j,q,x) can ONLY start with i or ü.

For Examples:

ji, qi, xi, jü, qü, xü (not ja, je, jo, ju)

jin, qin, xin, jün, qün, xün

jing, qing, xing

jian, qian, xian, jüan, qüan, xüan

jiang, qiang, xiang

jiong, qiong, xiong

Second special rule: ü

The special vowel “ü” only can be placed after j, q, x, l, n. When it is combined with j, q, x, the “ü” is written as “u” for convenience, as j, q, x will never combine with “u” as mentioned earlier. It is understood that “u” after j, q, x is pronounced as “ü”.

ju, qu, xu

jun, qun, xun

juan, quan, xuan

jue, que, xue

lü,l üe

nü

These are actually all possible combination involving “ü”.

Third special rule: zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, s

When the “i” follows these initial, the “i” is not pronounced as “ee”. The correct sound of “i” here is “ss”, which is unable to emulate from English.

Fourth special rule: y

“yan” is pronounced as “yen” (Japanese currency), not “y-under”. Thus, the spelling of “yen” does not exist in pinyin.

“yang” is as usual, pronounced as “young”.

For “yu”, “yun”, “yue”, and “yuan”, the “u” here is actually “ü”, as has been mentioned above.

Now we can proceed to learning the tones of Chinese pinyin. Spend a few days to study the sound of the combination of initials and finals. If you have not learn about the tone, just use tone (4) to practice first. Tone (4) is the tone when you pronounce words like "you", "car", "house" & "good".