Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation Chart

In Chinese words each syllable must be pronounced clearly. Each syllable has three
elements: an initial consonant sound, a final vowel or vowel combination, and a tone. In a
word with more than one syllable, you must pronounce each syllable clearly and separately.
Look for the consonant which is the initial of the next syllable. Initials There are 21
consonants and two semi-consonants that can be the initial sound of a syllable:

Initials:

Initial Closest English equivalent Chinese word

b book 爸爸
p pay 婆婆(popo)
m more 妈妈
f first 房子
d duck 弟弟(didi)
t tea 他
n noon 你
l loud 两
g good 国，个
k kick, come 咖啡，课
h hot 好，喝
j jeep 叫，家
q cheese 去，汽水
x ship 喜欢，小
c cats, what’s 菜
s see, sit 三，四
z beds 在，早
zh germ 这，中国
ch chilly 茶，吃
sh shirt 是，什么
r rose 人
w when, want 五，我
y yes 一，也, 有

Finals
There are three kinds of final vowel sounds in Mandarin Chinese:

 simple vowels (one vowel)

 compound vowels (more than one)

 vowels with a nasal ending: n, ng

Final Closest English equivalent Chinese word

a are, father 妈
ai I, eye 爱，海
ao now 好，猫
an tan, ban 班，三
ang bang 上海
o straw 我
ong tongue, wrong 中国
ou go, oh 狗
e pen 喝，课
ei say, hey 美国，咖啡
en ten 我们，英文
eng lung, hunger 学生
er fur, bird 二，那儿
i see 七，吃
ia yard 家
iao meow 小，叫
ian yen 面，鲜
iang young 两
ie yes 姐姐
in bin 您(nin)
ing skiing 英，苹
iong s(i)ong 穷(qiong)
iu yo(u), yoga 牛奶
u too, fool 五
ua wax 画(hua)
ue fewe(r) 学生
uo work 国，苹果
ui way 水
uai why 坏(huai)
uan wander 喜欢，图书馆
un tune, when 运动场
uang swan(g) 光(guang)
ü 绿(lv)
üe 略(lve)

8 Tricky Pinyin Pronunciations

The next four are pinyin rules you’ll have to memorize. The u sound in these words
is the ü sound even though the two dots aren’t written over the vowel.

 ju (English “j” plus the ü sound).

 句子 (jùzi — sentence, as in phrase).

 xu (English “sh” through your teeth plus the ü sound).

 需要 (xūyào — to need).

 qu (English “ch” through your teeth plus the ü sound).

 去 (qù — to go).

 yu (only the ü sound)

 语 (yǔ — language).

That last one, yu, introduces the next pinyin rule. In the following four sounds, the first letter
is silent. Pinyin was invented long after Chinese was a written language. The silent initial
letter is written because every word needs an initial and a final, but in these cases, it
shouldn’t be pronounced.

 yu (only the ü sound).

 母语 (mǔ yǔ — literally “mother language,” as in your native language).

 yi (only the i sound, pronounced “ee”).

 一 (yī — one).

 ying (only the ing sound).

 英国 (yīng guó — England).

 wu (only the u sound, pronounced “oo” as in “food”).

 五 (wǔ — five).