There are 35 finals in Chinese. Six of them are simple finals (a, e, i, o, u, ¨¹).
The other 29 are compound finals (18 single-syllables and 11 double-syllables). The following table shows all the finals.
The following are six simple finals (vowels):
a,
o,
e,
i,
u
and ¨¹.
"a"
"o"
"e"
"i" as in bee or cheese
"u"
"¨¹"
In zi, ci, si, zhi, chi, shi and ri the i is not pronounced.
It indicates that the consonant only is pronounced.
e.g. zi = "ds" as in beds or does,
ci = "c" as in cats,
ri = "r" as in right or rose.
When there is no initial before the final i, add y before the final i. i ¡ú yi
When there is no initial before the final u, add w before the final u. u ¡ú wu
When there is no initial before a final started with u, change u into w. ua ¡ú wa, uai ¡ú wai, uan ¡ú wan, uang ¡ú wang
When there is no initial before the final ¨¹ or a final started with ¨¹ in a syllable,
add y before the final. The two dots above ¨¹ are dropped. ¨¹ ¡ú yu, ¨¹e ¡ú yue
When the final ¨¹ or a final started with ¨¹ is preceded by j, q, x,
the two dots above ¨¹ are dropped. j¨¹ ¡ú ju, q¨¹ ¡ú qu, x¨¹ ¡ú xu, j¨¹n ¡ú jun, j¨¹e ¡ú jue
Contrast: l¨¹ ¡ú lu, n¨¹ ¡ú nu
The following are 18 single-syllable compound finals.
"ai" as in by or letter I
"ei" as in bay, day or letter A
"ui"
"ao"
"ou" as in go or letter O
"iu"
"ie" as in yes
"¨¹e"
"er" as in sister or water (American pronunciation) and cannot be combined with an initial
"an" as an
"en"
"in"
"un"
"¨¹n"
"ang"
"eng"
"ing"
"ong"
When preceded by initials, the finals uei, iou and uen are shortened as ui, iu and un respectively. iou ¡ú iu: jiu, qiu, xiu, diu uei ¡ú ui: tui, gui, zhui, sui uen ¡ú un: lun, kun, dun, shun
The following are 11 double-syllable compound finals.
"ia"
"iao"
"ian"
"iang"
"iong"
"ua"
"uo"
"uai"
"uan"
"uang"
"¨¹an"
When there is no initial before a final started with i, except for in and ing,
we change i into y. iao ¡ú yao, iou ¡ú you
When there is no initial before final in and ing, add y before the final. in ¡ú yin, ing ¡ú ying
