Learning Chinese - Pīnyīn finals

Now let's recap what we know about finals. The final of pīnyīn notation is the second (or first, if there's no initial) part of the pīnyīn that starts with a vowel sound. All pīnyīn need to have a final to be valid, but don't have to have a initial, such as 爱|ài (which can mean 'love', as mentioned on the previous page).

Each final has their own single sound, regardless of the final they are paired with with the exception of -i and i. Apart from those two, this does mean all pīnyīn with the same final rhyme with each other.

We will work from top to bottom down the table below. In each case, I will supply an English word that contains with the same sound, where the sound is in bold type. Finals that need particular attention are highlighted in red. Required tongue positions for particular initial groups are also pointed out.

Each final will be accompanied with IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) notation of its pronunciation but do be aware that pronunciations can wary, depending on different dialects or accents of the speaker. If you know IPA notation or at least are familiar with the system, the notation can be helpful. If you don't know anything about IPA, I would recommend ignoring the notation. It can be distracting or confusing because you would have even more to remember.

Again, let's replay the table for reference.

Group a finals
Group a finals are the main group where these can be used to construct the finals in the other three groups, with a couple of exceptions. This group is essentially the most generic, some don't even involve a at all.

Group i finals
Let's move onto the i finals. As mentioned prior, the i group consists of i plus a combination of i with finals from the a group.

Group u finals
Next are the u finals. As with the i group, the u group consists of u plus a combination of u with finals from the a group.

Group ü finals
Next are the ü finals. As with the i and u groups, the ü group consists of ü plus a combination of ü with finals from the a group.

