Pronunciation

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.

Finals     a  o  e  i  u  ¨¹  ai  ei  ui  ao  ou  iu  ie  ¨¹e  er  an  en  in  un  ¨¹n  ang  eng  ing  ong

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