Consonant and vowel's pronunciation
Online pronunciation of Chinese consonants and vowels. You can also download the mp3 files or zip file.
| Initial consonants | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b | p | m | f | ||||
| d | t | n | l | ||||
| g | k | h | j | ||||
| q | x | z | c | ||||
| s | zh | ch | sh | ||||
| r | w | y | |||||
| Vowels | |||||||
| a | ai | ao | an | ||||
| ang | o | ong | ou | ||||
| e | ei | en | eng | ||||
| er | i | ia | iao | ||||
| ie | iu | ian | iang | ||||
| in | ing | iong | u | ||||
| ua | uo | ui | uai | ||||
| uan | un | uang | ueng | ||||
| ü | üe | üan | ün | ||||
Download the packaged chinese consonant and vowel pronunciation mp3 file.
In Chinese, there are 21 initials (consonants) and 38 finals (vowels). The initials are the sounds that come before the vowel sound in a syllable. The finals are the vowel sounds that come after the initial sound in a syllable.
Here are some examples of Chinese initials: b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, h, j, q, x, zh, ch, sh, r, z, c and s.
And here are some examples of Chinese finals: a, o, e, i, u and ü.
The pronunciation of Chinese vowels is similar to English vowels with some differences. For example:
- "a" sounds like "ah" as in "father"
- "o" sounds like "oh" as in "go"
- "e" sounds like "uh" but with a wider mouth as in "bet"
- "i" sounds like "ee" as in "see"
- "u" sounds like "oo" as in "too"
- "ü" sounds like a mix between "ee" and "oo". It's similar to the French sound in "tu".
Here are some examples of Chinese words that use these initials and finals:
- "ba" (爸) meaning "father" uses the initial "b" and the final "a".
- "pan" (盘) meaning "plate" uses the initial "p" and the final "an".
- "mao" (猫) meaning "cat" uses the final "ao".
- "cai" (菜) meaning "vegetables" uses the final "ai".
- "nan" (难) meaning "difficult" uses the final "an".
- "chang" (唱) meaning "to sing" uses the final "ang".
