Pinyin Whole Syllables

At last we get to the last station of our journey of Pinyin :)

Nasal Compound Finals ang, eng, ing, ong

Nasal Compound Finals an,en,in,un,ün

Pinyin finals ai,ei,ui,ao,ou,iu,ie,ue,er

Pinyin finals a, o, e, i, u, ü

Pinyin Initials zh, ch, sh, r, y, w

The tip of pronouncing ' zh ':
First you raise the tip of your tongue to touch the front area of your hard palate. Then you loosen the contact and a narrow gap is formed, and at the same time you blow air through the gap to make the sound of ' z '.


As for ' ch ', the method is the same as for ' zh ', and try to make the sound of  ' c '.


The tip of pronouncing ' sh ':
First you raise the tip of your tongue to be close enough to the hard palate to form a narrow gap. Then you blow the air through the gap to make the sound of ' s '.


The tip of pronouncing ' r ':
The method the same as for ' sh ', but you may notice that ' r ' is a voiced sound, while the other three are voiceless sounds. So you can feel the vibration of your vocal cord when you pronounce ' r '.


The sound of ' y ' is the same as the final ' i ', but comparatively shorter. The sound of ' w ' is the same as the final ' u ', also the sound lasts shorter than ' u '.


Till now, we finished all the lesson of the Pinyin initials. Notice that there are only four initials are voice sound, they are: m, n, l, r, while the other initials are all voiceless. 

Pinyin initials z, c, s

Tips of how to pronounce ' z ' :
First, the tip of your tongue reaches forward to touch the back of your upper teeth. Then you lose the contact and blow the air through the narrow gap between your tongue tip and the back of your upper teeth to make the sound.

As for ' c ', the tip is the same as ' z ', but you need to blow the air harder.

Tip of how to pronounce ' s ' :
First, the tip of your tongue reaches forward to be close to the back of your upper teeth. Then you blow air through the gap between them to make the sound.

Pinyin initials j, q, x

Tip of how to make the sound of  ' j ' :

First the tip of your tongue reaches forward to touch the back of your lower teeth, with the front of the tongue rising to touch the hard palate. Then you should relax your tongue to form a narrow gap between your tongue and hard palate, and at the same time blow the air through the gap to make the sound.

As for ' q ', the method is the same as for ' j '. But you need to blow the air harder.

Tip for how to make the sound of  ' x':
First the tip of your tongue reaches to touch the gum line of the back of lower teeth, with the front of the tongue rising to be close to the roof of your mouth, and a narrow gap will form between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. Then you blow the air through the narrow gap to make the sound.

Pinyin initials g, k, h

The tip of pronouncing 'g' correctly is:
First the back of your tongue reaches up to touch the soft palate. Then you lose the contact between them and the same time blow out the air lightly to make the sound.

As for 'k', the method is the same as 'g'. But the air being blown out is stronger.

The tip of pronouncing 'h' correctly is :
Pull back your tongue, letting the back of your tongue reach closely to the soft palate; then blow the air through the gap between your tongue and soft palate to make the sound.

Pinyin initials d, t, n, l

How to pronounce initial "d"?
First, the tip of your tongue touches the gum behind the upper front teeth and hold your breath. Then let the tip of your tongue leave the gum and blow the air out to make the sound.

How to pronounce initial "t"?

The method of pronouncing "t" is the same as the way of pronouncing "d". But the air blown through your mouth is stronger.

How to pronounce initial "n" ?
First, the tip of your tongue touches the back of the upper teeth. Then lose the contact quickly, and at the same time let the air blow through your nose to make the sound.

How to pronounce initial "l"?
First, the tip of your tongue touches the gum behind the upper teeth. Then lose the contact quickly and let the air blow through your mouth to make the sound.

Pinyin initials: b, p, m, f

Tips of pronouncing Pinyin correctly:
When we pronounce initial sound, we make a gentle and quick sound. It just lasts for a very short time then slide to final sound to complete the pronunciation of a character. As for the pronunciation of final sound, we make a loud and clear sound. And it lasts comparatively longer than the initial ones.

This lesson introduce four initials: b, p, m, f .
To pronounce ' b ' correctly, the tip is: First, close your mouth tightly and hold your breath. Then open your mouth quickly and blow the air out gently. It sounds like the break of a water bubble.

To pronounce ' p ' correctly, the method is close to the way of pronouncing 'b'. But you need to blow the air harder.

The tip of pronouncing ' m ' is : Noticing that this is a nasal sound, you should close your mouth, let the air come out through your nose to make the sound.

The tip of pronouncing ' f ' is: The upper teeth touches the lower lip. Let the air blow out between the teeth and lip.

Introduction of Pinyin

From today on, we are going to have a quite long journey of Pinyin. It will help you build a strong foundation to continue learning Chinese