Learn perfect pronunciation of Chinese vowels
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to The Ultimate Chinese Pronunciation Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn all Chinese vowels and their variant vowel sounds. |
| a, e, i, o, u |
| With these sounds, you can pronounce any vowel that could possibly appear in Chinese! |
| Some vowels may be hard for you to distinguish, especially for English speakers, so make sure you listen carefully! |
| Remember that memorizing and reproducing the sound is the goal. Don't get too frustrated if you forget when to use the variant sounds, that'll come naturally later. |
| Are you ready? |
| Then let's get started! |
| The first vowel is... |
| a |
| 他 tā "he/him" |
| 大 dà "big" |
| 茶 chá "tea" |
| This is almost identical to the A sound in the word 'father', except the tongue is in more of a neutral position. |
| When you say the word 'father', do you feel a small pressure at the back of your mouth? The idea is to relieve that pressure, keeping everything in the same position, just move your tongue forward a bit. |
| You can kind of get a feel for this if you overexaggerate the 'ah' in father by opening your mouth as wide as possible. When you move your tongue forward, you will relieve that pressure and it should sound a little whinier as a result. |
| Study how Yinru pronounces this sound. |
| ä, ä (slowly) |
| ä, ä (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the A changes... |
| 少 shǎo "little" |
| 糖 táng "candy" |
| It becomes identical to the A sound in the word 'father'. |
| ɑ, ɑ (slowly) |
| ɑ, ɑ (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the A changes... |
| 咸 xián "salty" |
| 短 duǎn "short" |
| It becomes identical to the E sound in the word 'red'. |
| ɛ, ɛ (slowly) |
| ɛ, ɛ (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| e |
| 人 rén |
| 热 rè "hot" |
| 渴 kě "thirsty" |
| It's identical to the E sound at the end of the word 'problem'. |
| ǝ, ǝ (slowly) |
| ǝ, ǝ (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the E changes... |
| 累 lèi "tired" |
| It becomes similar to the A sound in the word 'play', however, try not to carry over the Y sound too much. Try to relax your jaw, and say it as if your allowing the vowel to spill out from your mouth. Listen to how Yinru pronounces this vowel. |
| e, e (slowly) |
| e, e (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the E changes... |
| 切 qiē "to cut" |
| When paired like this, it becomes the E sound in 'red' from before. |
| 月 yuè "moon" |
| This is identical to the previous sound but with rounded lips. |
| Try saying the E in 'red' while rounding your lips. |
| (pause) |
| Now listen to how Yinru says it. |
| œ, œ (slowly) |
| œ, œ (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the E changes... |
| 扔 rēng "to throw" |
| It's similiar to the O sound in the word 'boring' but with unrounded lips. |
| You'll find that when you start unrounding your lips, it'll start to change to more of a U sound. Try it! |
| (pause) |
| Now listen to how Yinru pronounces it. |
| ɤ, ɤ (slowly) |
| ɤ, ɤ (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| i |
| 北京 běijīng |
| When paired with the following, the I changes... |
| 衣服 yīfu "clothes" |
| 秘密 mìmi "secret" |
| It's identical to the double E sound in the word 'see'. |
| i, i (slowly) |
| i, i (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the I changes... |
| 日 rì (day) |
| 知识 zhīshi "knowledge" |
| 紫色 zǐsè "purple" |
| This is similar to the previous sound. It's kind of like the double E sound in the word 'see', except your tongue is a little bit further back in the mouth, in a more centralized position. |
| One trick to pronouncing this vowel, is to say the word 'ye', as in 'O ye of little faith'. The Y sound should raise your tongue to the correct position in the mouth. Try it! |
| (pause) |
| Now listen to how Yinru pronounces this vowel. |
| ɨ, ɨ (slowly) |
| ɨ, ɨ (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the I changes... |
| 爱 ài "love" |
| 飞 fēi "to fly" |
| It's identical to the short I sound in the word 'bit'. |
| The next vowel is... |
| o |
| 我 wǒ |
| 菠菜 bōcài "spinach" |
| 魔术 móshù "magic" |
| It's identical to the OU sound in the word 'ought'. |
| ɔ, ɔ (slowly) |
| ɔ, ɔ (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the O changes... |
| 红 Hóng |
| 空 kōng "empty" |
| 中国 Zhōngguó "China" |
| It's identical to the double O sound in the word 'hook'. |
| ʊ, ʊ (slowly) |
| ʊ, ʊ (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the O changes... |
| 手 shǒu "hand" |
| 欧洲 Oūzhōu "Europe" |
| 肉 ròu "meat" |
| The O becomes a little bit like the O sound in the word 'owe'. However, try not to carry over the W sound *too* much. |
| o, o (slowly) |
| o, o (slowly) |
| And the last vowel is... |
| u |
| 哭 kū |
| 书 shū "book" |
| 父亲 fùqin "father" |
| It's similar to the double O sound in the word 'boot'. However, you want to slightly pout your lips more and exaggerate the rounding. |
| Listen to how Yinru pronounces this vowel. |
| u, u (slowly) |
| u, u (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the U changes... |
| 绿 lǜ (green) |
| 玉 yù "jade" |
| 去 qù "to go to" |
| This is like the double E sound in 'see' but with rounded lips. |
| Try saying the double E in 'see' while rounding your lips. |
| (pause) |
| Now listen to how Yinru pronounces this vowel. |
| y, y (slowly) |
| y, y (slowly) |
| Well done! You've just learned all vowels and their variant sounds in Chinese. |
| With these sounds, you can properly pronounce any vowel that could possibly appear in the Chinese language! Isn't that great? |
| Well that's all for vowels. |
| In the next lesson, you'll start learning consonant sounds. |
| Which vowel sound was the most difficult for you to learn? Please comment and share your thoughts. |
| See you in the next Ultimate Chinese Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
Comments
HideWhich vowel sound was the most difficult for you to learn? Please comment and share your thoughts.
Hello xiamei,
Thank you for your lovely comment, we're glad to hear that this lesson helped you! 😄
Hope to see you here often, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai
Team ChineseClass101.com
Omg you just unlocked something in my brain! I've been learning Chinese for a bit over a week now and I hired a private tutor because I am in China and really need to be able to speak the language as soon as possible.
My teacher is a native Chinese speaker and she's been great, but I could never pronounce the word green in Chinese. The way this was explained just made it click for me. It still feels awkward saying it, but I'm so glad I finally got it. Thank you!
你好 robert groulx！
不用谢。(Bú yòng xiè.) = No need for thanks. You're welcome. 😇
谢谢 (Xièxie) for studying with us, it's great to have you here!
Let us know if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
雷文特 (Levente)
Team ChineseClass101.com
thank you for the lesson transcript
favorite word is 欧洲
robert
Hello Kristine,
Thank you for your positive comment. We're glad to hear that you found this series useful! 👍
Keep practicing! And let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
The videos on how to properly pronounce the vowels and consonants are so great! I learned a lot. The vowels Ü in liü and the e sounds are a little bit hard. Kudos to the chinese class team!
Hello chris huff,
Thank you for your comment. In my opinion the "awe" sound is more like the "o" in "我 wǒ", there's a nasal sound in "ong" making it sound closer to the word "hook". There are also variations among native speakers, listen more and practice more, you'll get the hang of it. 😉
Hope it helps. As always, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
红 sounds NOTHING like the o's in the word hook. It sounds more like "awe" as in "He was in awe over the beautiful painting."
Hello Bill,
Thank you for your comment.
The 'a' sound is almost identical of the 'a' in father, when paired with 'ao' and 'ang', the 'a' sounds identical to the 'a' in father. The change is in the position of the tongue. 'ao' and 'ang' as a whole do not sound alike, 'ao' sounds more like 'ow', while 'ang' has a nasal ending.
Hope it helps. As always, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
When introducing the a sound, you indicate it is like the a in father. Then you say when paired with ao, ang it changes and sounds like the a in father (but the original a sounds like the a in father so what changed?)
Also, these two do not sound alike. Ao sounds like augh in baugh. Ang sounds like the a in baa.
Am I missing something? I would appreciate your help.
Thank you
Bill
Hi Akashi,
Thank you for your comment! Feel free to let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Khanh
Team ChineseClass101.com
oh god that's so overwhelming...😭
Hi Danesha
When Chinese vowel [u] is paired with some consonants, [u] is voices as [ǜ]:
lu or lǜ, jǜ, qǜ, xǜ, yǜ
Thanks for learning with us.
Amy
Team ChineseClass101.com
so 'lu, ju, qu, xu, yu' would sound like y?
Hello Rose,
Thank you for your question.
You can find more information about how to download our media here:
https://www.chineseclass101.com/helpcenter/getstarted/downloadhowto
FYI this lesson is a video lesson, that's why the audio only option is not available for download.
Thank you for understanding.
Cheers,
Lena
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hello, Rose,
For your question about the audiobook material, we will reply you as soon as possible.
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hello
Could I have a question about the audiobook material? I want to download the Lesson track from the audiobook and copy it to my phone. Is there any way I can make it? Thank you.
Hello, 龖,
Thank you for your comment.
It is really hard to explain in words.
Please do more exercise in listening and speaking, just repeat what you heard.
And I think you can master it soon!
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
Nice explaining though confusing at times there all is based on English speakers.
Hi, Joseph,
This lesson is just to tell you how we pronounce vowels in Chinese.
If you have understood the rules already, you don't need spend too much time on it.
Or if you are still confused on the pronunciations of some vowels, please take some practices of the sample words.
Of course, the sample words are also important as vocabulary, so if it is possible, please remember them all.
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com