There are 23 initials in Chinese.
| b | p | m | f |
| d | t | n | l |
| g | k | h | |
| j | q | x | |
| z | c | s | |
| zh | ch | sh | r |
| y | w |
The sound of some initials is similar to that of English letters:
| b like “b” in ball | p like “p” in push | m like “m” in mine | f like “f” in far |
| d like “d” in day | t like “t” in tea | n like “n” in name | l like “l” in look |
| g like “g” in girl | k like “k” in kind | h like “h” in hot | |
| j like “j” in just | q like “ch” in cheese | x like “sh” in sheep | |
| z like “ds” in reads | c like “ts” in sits | s like “s” in silk | |
| zh like “dge” in judge | ch like “ch” in rich | sh like “sh” in shop | r like “r” in rubber |
| y like “y” in yellow | w like “w” in way |
When you read, you will find that the letters Z, C, S, Zh, Ch, Sh, R, and X are not quite as easy to pronounce. This is because there are no sounds exactly like them in English. Don’t worry about it, because correct sounds will come to you with more practice. Let’s repeat them one more time, as you play the recording again.
See, you sound better already.
Now we move onto Unit 2: Vowels/Finals. Listen to the audio of vowels/finals, and repeat the sounds you hear as you read the table.
Unit 2 Vowels/Finals 第二单元—韵母
| a | o | e |
| i | u | ü |
| a like “a” in spa | o like “o” in voice | e like “ear” in earn |
| i: a long e sound, like “ee” in feet | u like “oo” in boom | ü like “u” in French tu or “ü” in German Führer. |
Finals are much easier, right? These six are the basic and most common finals.
Since you have learned “Initials” and “Finals” now, I’ll tell you some encouraging facts: most Chinese words are pronounced by combining initials and finals. Look at these three simple Chinese words:
I — wǒ You — nǐ He — tā
You can see that when the initial “w” and the final “o” combine, they form a Chinese word “wǒ” which means “I” in English. The words nǐ (you) and tā (he) follow the same rule. Not difficult, right?
But, you may be wondering what that extra stuff is on top of the “o”, “i” and “a”? Good question! These mark the “tones” in Chinese. Since you asked, we’ll learn tones now.
Tones are sounds that happen when you move your voice in different ways as you speak. There are four tones and one neutral tone in Chinese. Let’s take a closer look.
Unit 3 Tones 第三单元—声调
Look at the table below. We’ll use the word “yu” as an example. We’ll discuss its meanings later.
| Tone | Mark | Description |
| 1st | yū | Flat or high level tone |
| 2nd | yú | Starts medium in tone, then rises to the top |
| 3rd | yǔ | Starts low, dips to the bottom, then rises toward the top |
| 4th | yù | Starts at the top, then falls sharp and strong to the bottom |
| Neutral tone | yu | Flat, with no emphasis; it’s shorter and lower in pitch than the 1st tone. |
If we put the descriptions into a visual form—sketch them out—we get a graph like this:
Four tones graph
Now, follow along with me: we are going to read yu with each of the four tones. You may use your fingertip to trace over the appropriate mark on the graph above, as you speak each one. Pay attention to how your finger and your voice move up and down to reach different “pitch” levels.
| Tone | Mark | Meaning |
| 1st | 淤 yū | become silted up |
| 2nd | 鱼 yú | fish |
| 3rd | 雨 yǔ | rain |
| 4th | 玉 yù | jade |
| Neutral tone | yu | Not every Chinese character has a neutral tone. Many particle words have neutral tones, such as ma—吗, ne—呢, etc. You’ll see that in the next chapter. |
Great work—now you know how tones are made and how different they sound. And just as with yu above, remember that one character can have four different tones, and that same character