# Chinese (Mandarin)/Pronunciation of Finals

| Lessons: | Pron. - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 | Search inside this book using Google |
| Subpages: | Examples - Exercises - Stroke Order | Search inside this book using Google |

## Pronunciation of finals

| Pinyin | Pinyin | IPA | Final-only form | Description |
| Single finals | a | [a:] | a | as in "father" |
| Single finals | o | [ɔ:] | o | as in "got" |
| Single finals | e | [ɤə] | e | a backward, unrounded vowel: first place the tongue between [ŋ] and [ə] to produce [ɤ], and then lower the tongue to slide to [ə] a bit like English "duh", but not as "open" |
| Single finals | (ê) | [e] | ê | as in "get" |
| Single finals | i | [i:] | yi | as in "he" |
| Single finals | (-i) | [ɻ̩], [ɹ̩] | | i is a buzzed continuation of the consonant when it appears after these initials: z-, c-, s-, zh-, ch-, sh- and r- |
| Single finals | u | [u:] | wu | as in "who" |
| Single finals | ü | [y:] | yu | as in German "üben" or French "lune" (to get this sound, say "ee" with rounded lips) |
| Plural finals | ai | [ai̯] | ai | like "eye", but a bit lighter |
| Plural finals | ei | [ei̯] | ei | as in "say" |
| Plural finals | ui | [uei̯] | wei | like "way", but a bit lighter |
| Plural finals | ao | [au̯] | ao | like "cow", the a is much more audible than the o |
| Plural finals | ou | [ou̯] | ou | as in "so", "dough" |
| Plural finals | iu | [iəu̯] | you | as in "Leo" |
| Plural finals | ie | [i̯e] | ye | like "yet" |
| Plural finals | üe | [y̯e] | yue | as pinyin ü + ê |
| Plural finals | er | [aɚ̯] | er | as in "bar" in American English (the r is always pronounced) (this final doesn't combine with any initials) |
| Plural finals | an | [an] | an | as in "stun", "fun" |
| Plural finals | en | [ən] | en | as in "taken" |
| Plural finals | in | [in] | yin | as in "in" |
| Plural finals | un | [u̯ən] | wen | as pinyin u + en |
| Plural finals | ün | [yn] | yun | as pinyin ü + n |
| Plural finals | ang | [aŋ] | ang | as in "young", like "song" in American English |
| Plural finals | eng | [əŋ] | eng | replace the [n] in en with [ŋ] |
| Plural finals | ing | [iŋ] | ying | as in "thing" |
| Plural finals | ong | [ɔŋ] | | replace the [n] in "yawn" with [ŋ] |

## Rolled finals

Rolled finals (儿化音) are a phenomenon in spoken Mandarin. People from northern China like to roll their tongue when saying specific words (usually nouns and verbs) in daily dialogues. On the other hand, people from southern China rarely do that. Foreign Chinese learners are not quite suggested to learn so, as this is sometimes considered as a northern China accent instead of standard Mandarin. This table's purpose is to enable Chinese learners to recognize and understand them when hearing somebody using them.
| Pinyin | IPA | Explanation |
| e'r | [ɤ˞] | as e + er (not to be confused with the final er on its own, e'r only exists with an initial character before it) |
| ￼ar, air, anr air, anr | [aɚ̯] | as ai + er, an + er |
| aor | [au̯˞] | as ao + er |
| our | [ou̯˞] | as ou + er |
| angr | [ãɚ̯̃] | as ang + er |
| iar, ianr | [i̯aɚ̯] | as ia + er, ian + er |
| inr, ir | [i̯ɚ] | as in + er, i + er |
| ingr | [i̯ɚ̃] | as ing + er |
| ur | [u˞] | as u + er |
| uor | [u̯o˞] | as uo + er |
| uir | [u̯ɚ] | as ui + er |
| ongr | [ʊ̃˞] | as ong + er |
| ür | [y̯ɚ] | as ü + er |
| Lessons: | Pron. - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 | Search inside this book using Google |
| Subpages: | Examples - Exercises - Stroke Order | Search inside this book using Google |