Simple (Single) Finals Flashcards
The six Simple finals: a, o, e, i, u, ü are the most fundamental vowels of Chinese Pinyin.
1
Q
a
A
like “a” in “father”
ex. tā 他 he
2
Q
o
A
like “o” in “or”
ex. wǒ 我 I
3
Q
e
A
like “ir” in “dirty”
ex. chē 车 car
4
Q
i
A
like “i” in “in”
“i” spelled by itself is “yi”
If there is no initial consonant before i, i is written as a semi-vowel, y. Thus ia, ie, iao, iu, ian, iang become ya, ye, yao, you (note that the o cannot be omitted here: iu = iou), yan, yang,. Before in and ing, add y, e.g., yin and ying.
lǐ 里 inside
5
Q
u
A
like “u” in “blue”
“u” spelled by itself is “wu”
u becomes w if not preceded by an initial.
wa, wai, wan, wang, wei, wen, weng, wo..
cū 粗 thick
6
Q
ü
A
English. like “u” in “lune”
If there is no initial consonant before ü, add y and drop the umlaut: yu, yuan, yue, yun.
qù 去 go
