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Chinese sounds:
A Chinese syllable consists of an initial sound, final sound and a tone mark.
- The initial sound
Determined by the consonant in front of the syllable.
Usually one letter, except for: zh, ch or sh.
To pronounce the inital sound look at Table 1.
- The final sound
Determined by the letters after the inital and not including the tone mark.
Begins with a vowel and can be made of 1 to 4 characters.
To pronounce the final sound look at Table 2.
- Tone mark
Tones marks are always placed over vowels (never over consonants).
If there is more than one vowel in the syllable, the mark first goes over the
a, e, i, o and u respectively (alphabetical order).
The only exception to this rule is when a syllable with "iu" needs a tone mark, in which case the mark is placed over the "u", not the "i".
To pronounce the tone marks look at Table 3.
For example:
Měiguó
Měiguó in pinyin means United States of America (literally: měi=beautiful and guó=country).
The word Měiguó consists of two syllables: Měi and guó.
So the first syllable starts with with an initial sound starting with "M", a final sound ending with "ei" and a tone indicated by a
tone mark on a vowel (= aeiouü), in this example "ě".
The second syllable starts with with an initial sound starting with "g", a final sound ending with "uo" and a tone indicated by a
tone mark on a vowel (= aeiouü), in this example "ó".
b
(buo) |
p
(puo) |
m
(muo) |
f
(fuo) |
|
|
|
d
(duh) |
t
(tuh) |
n
(nuh) |
l
(luh) |
g
(guh) |
k
(kuh) |
h
(ghuh) |
j
(gee)
gee whiz |
q
(chee)
cheek |
x
(shee)
she |
|
|
|
|
z
(dzuh) |
c
(tsuh) |
s
(shuh) |
|
|
|
|
zh
(jir)
germ |
ch
(chir)
church |
sh
(shir)
shirt |
|
|
|
|
r
(err)
bigger |
|
|
|
|
|
|
w
(wuh) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
y
(yii) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
a
(ah)
father |
ai
(i)
eye |
ao
(ow)
cow |
an
(ahn) |
ang
(ahng)
angst |
|
|
|
|
|
e
(uh) |
ei
(ay)
hay |
en
(un)
taken |
eng
(ung) |
er
(ar) |
|
|
|
|
|
i
(ee) |
ia
(ya)
yard |
iao
(yaow) |
ie
(yeh)
yet |
iu
(yo) |
ian
(yan)
yen |
iang
(yahng) |
in
(een) |
ing
(eeng) |
iong
(yoong) |
o
(aw)
so |
ong
(oong) |
ou
(oh)
so |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
u
(oe) |
ua
(wa) |
uo
(waw) |
ui
(way) |
uai
(why) |
uan
(wan) |
un
(one) |
uang
(wahng) |
ueng
(wung) |
|
ü
(yew) |
üe
(yweh) |
üan
(ywan) |
ün
(yewn) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
First tone |
High and long |
ā ē ī ō ū ǖ |
| 2 |
Second tone |
Rising and long |
á é í ó ú ǘ |
| 3 |
Third tone |
Falling and then rising |
ǎ ě ǐ ǒ ǔ ǚ |
| 4 |
Fourth tone |
Falling and short |
à è ì ò ù ǜ |
| |
Neutral tone |
|
No tone mark on a vowel |
Note: The two dots on the ü do not have to do with the tone.
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