a: It’s similar to “a” in English “father”.
o: It’s similar to “aw” in English “law”.
e: It’s similar to “a” in English “ago”.
i: It’s similar to “ee” in English “see”.
u: It’s similar to “oo” in English “mood”.
ü: Although this sound is not found in English, it occurs both in French “salut”, and German “tschüß”.
er: It’s similar to “er” in English with an American accent “letter”.
| 啊(ā): ah | 哦(ò): oh |
| 饿(è): hungry | 鹅(é): goose |
| 二(èr): two | 一(yī): one |
| 五(wǔ): five | 鱼(yú): fish |
| 玉(yù): jade |
1. Tones
There are five tones in Chinese Pinyin, and the first four tones are marked with “¯”, “´”, “ˇ” and “`”, the fifth tone, which is also called the neutral tone, it doesn’t have a tone mark.
For example: ā, á, ǎ, à, a.
2. How to spell “i” when it forms a syllable alone
When “i” forms a syllable by itself, we need to plus “y” before “i”, remove the dot on it, but the neutral tone. And put the tone marks on them, there is no tone mark above the neutral tone.
For example: yī, yí, yǐ, yì, yi.
3. How to spell “u” when it forms a syllable alone
When “u” forms a syllable by itself, we need to plus “w” before “u”, and put the tone marks on them, there is no tone mark above the neutral tone.
For example: wū, wú, wǔ, wù, wu.
4. How to spell “ü” when it forms a syllable alone
When “ü” forms a syllable by itself, we need to plus “y” before “ü”, remove the two dots on it, including the neutral tone. And put the tone marks on them, there is no tone mark above the neutral tone.
For example: yū, yú, yǔ, yù, yu.
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It’s a great lesson, easy to understand, and it motivates me to learn Chinese.
Dear Osama277,
Nǐ hǎo!
I am glad that you liked this lesson and let me know if you have any questions.
You have done a great demonstration of pinyin and the tones. Thanks.