Chinese (Mandarin)/Pronunciation of Finals


Lessons: Pron. - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 Search inside this book using Google
Subpages: Examples - Exercises - Stroke Order

Pronunciation of finals

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Pinyin IPA Final-only form Description
Single finals a [a:] a as in "father"
o [ɔ:] o as in "got"
e [ɤə] e a backward, unrounded vowel: first place the tongue between [ŋ] and [ə] to produce [ɤ], and then lower the tongue to slide to [ə]

a bit like English "duh", but not as "open"

(ê) [e] ê as in "get"
i [i:] yi as in "he"
(-i) [ɻ̩], [ɹ̩] i is a buzzed continuation of the consonant when it appears after these initials: z-, c-, s-, zh-, ch-, sh- and r-
u [u:] wu as in "who"
ü [y:] yu as in German "üben" or French "lune" (to get this sound, say "ee" with rounded lips)
Plural finals ai [ai̯] ai like "eye", but a bit lighter
ei [ei̯] ei as in "say"
ui [uei̯] wei like "way", but a bit lighter
ao [au̯] ao like "cow", the a is much more audible than the o
ou [ou̯] ou as in "so", "dough"
iu [iəu̯] you as in "Leo"
ie [i̯e] ye like "yet"
üe [y̯e] yue as pinyin ü + ê
er [aɚ̯] er as in "bar" in American English (the r is always pronounced) (this final doesn't combine with any initials)
an [an] an as in "stun", "fun"
en [ən] en as in "taken"
in [in] yin as in "in"
un [u̯ən] wen as pinyin u + en
ün [yn] yun as pinyin ü + n
ang [aŋ] ang as in "young", like "song" in American English
eng [əŋ] eng replace the [n] in en with [ŋ]
ing [iŋ] ying as in "thing"
ong [ɔŋ] replace the [n] in "yawn" with [ŋ]

Rolled finals

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Rolled finals (儿化音) are a phenomenon in spoken Mandarin. People from northern China like to roll their tongue when saying specific words (usually nouns and verbs) in daily dialogues. On the other hand, people from southern China rarely do that. Foreign Chinese learners are not quite suggested to learn so, as this is sometimes considered as a northern China accent instead of standard Mandarin. This table's purpose is to enable Chinese learners to recognize and understand them when hearing somebody using them.


Pinyin IPA Explanation
e'r [ɤ˞] as e + er (not to be confused with the final er on its own, e'r only exists with an initial character before it)
ar,

air, anr

air, anr

[aɚ̯] as ai + er, an + er
aor [au̯˞] as ao + er
our [ou̯˞] as ou + er
angr [ãɚ̯̃] as ang + er
iar, ianr [i̯aɚ̯] as ia + er, ian + er
inr, ir [i̯ɚ] as in + er, i + er
ingr [i̯ɚ̃] as ing + er
ur [u˞] as u + er
uor [u̯o˞] as uo + er
uir [u̯ɚ] as ui + er
ongr [ʊ̃˞] as ong + er
ür [y̯ɚ] as ü + er


Lessons: Pron. - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 Search inside this book using Google
Subpages: Examples - Exercises - Stroke Order