Chinese Pinyin Lesson 3: Finals

你好！Nǐ hǎo! This lesson introduces common Mandarin finals: the part of a syllable after its initial consonant. Some syllables have no consonant initial. Study finals alongside the initials and tones, and use recordings to check your pronunciation.

English comparisons are only rough starting points. Mandarin vowels do not always match English vowels, and a vowel’s sound can vary according to its surroundings. Learning a spelling is useful, but does not by itself guarantee accurate pronunciation.

Simple finals

The letters a, o, e, i, u and ü are often taught first. The i in zi, ci, si, zhi, chi, shi and ri does not have the same vowel sound as the i in li. Listen to those complete syllables rather than using the English word “in” as a universal model.

Compound finals and er

Compound finals contain a vowel glide. Er is taught here for convenience, but is a separate r-coloured final. After j, q, x and y, the dots on ü are omitted in spelling: qù still contains the ü sound.

Nasal finals ending in n

For a final ending in n, the tongue tip makes contact near the ridge behind the upper teeth. Un normally represents uen after an initial; kùn is not simply an English “moon” vowel with a k attached.

Nasal finals ending in ng

For ng, close the back of the tongue against the soft palate, as at the end of English “sing”. Do not add a separate g sound. Contrast n and ng endings carefully. The written final is ong, not ung.

Finals with an initial glide

These finals begin with a short glide represented by i, u or ü. They are part of one syllable, not two separately pronounced finals. Charts group finals differently; this section is not a claim that these are excluded from standard pinyin.

Tone-mark placement

Put a tone mark on a vowel, following these rules: mark a if present; otherwise mark e; in ou mark o; in iu and ui mark the last vowel. With a single written vowel, mark that vowel. Examples: hǎo, hěn, dōu, liù, guì.

A tone mark replaces the dot on i, as in nǐ. It does not remove the two dots on ü. Write nǚ and lǜ. The separate spelling rule removes the dots only after j, q, x and y, as in qù and yún.

Syllables without consonant initials

Finals beginning with a, o or e can be written directly, for example ài and ěr. Other finals follow y/w spelling conventions: i becomes yi, ia becomes ya, u becomes wu and ua becomes wa. Iou, uei and uen become you, wei and wen when there is no consonant initial, but are shortened to iu, ui and un after one. See the spelling-rules lesson for more examples.

Reading practice

Read these words aloud, then check a recording or ask a teacher for feedback. Pinyin is joined by word here rather than separated mechanically after every character.

Practise a few words at a time and pay attention to both the final and the tone. For reference, the Ministry of Education explains the classification of compound finals, and Hong Kong Polytechnic University provides pinyin spelling practice.