| Pinyin | IPA | Final-only form | Explanation |
|---|
| a | [ɑ] | a | if ending a syllable, then as in “father” |
| o | [uɔ] | o | read ‘oo’ in “wooden”, “coo“, followed by a plain continental ‘or’, as one syllable |
| e | [ɤ], [ə] | e | when occurring at the end of a syllable and not in the combinations of ie, üe, ue, then a backward, unrounded vowel, which can be formed by first pronouncing a plain continental “o” (AuE and NZE law) and then spreading the lips without changing the position of the tongue. That same sound is also similar to English “duh“, but not as open. Many unstressed syllables in Chinese use the schwa (idea), and this is also written as e. |
| ê | [ɛ] | (n/a) | as in “bet”. Only used in certain interjections. |
| ai | [aɪ] | ai | like English “eye”, but a bit lighter |
| ei | [ei] | ei | as in “hey“ |
| ao | [ɑʊ] | ao | approximately as in “cow“; the a is much more audible than the o |
| ou | [ou̯] | ou | as in “so“, “dough“ |
| an | [an] | an | starts with plain continental “a” (AuE and NZE bud) and ends with “n”; as in “stun“, “fun“ |
| en | [ən] | en | as in “taken“, “fern”; sounds like “earn” |
| ang | [ɑŋ] | ang | as in German Angst, including the English loan word angst (starts with the vowel sound in father and ends in the velar nasal; as in “flung“, “dung“, “young“;like song in American English) |
| eng | [ɤŋ] | eng | like e above but with ng added to it at the back |
| er | [aɻ] | er | like ar (exists only on own, or as last part of final in combination with others- see bottom of list) |
| i | [i] | yi | like English “ee”, except when preceded by “c”, “ch”, “r”, “s”, “sh”, “z” or “zh”; in these cases it should be pronounced as a natural extension of those sounds in the same position, but slightly more open to allow for a clear-sounding vowel to pass through |
| ia | [iɑ] | ya | as i + a; like English “yard” or the name “iago” |
| io | [iou̯] | yo | as i + o; like English slang “yo“; (you will only see this as in final-only form “yo“ |
| ie | [iɛ] | ye | as i + ê; but is very short; e (pronounced like ê) is pronounced longer and carries the main stress (similar to the initial sound ye in yet) |
| iai | [iɑi] | yai | as i + ai; like “yi” in “yikes“; (you will only see this as in final-only form “yai“ |
| iao | [iɑʊ] | yao | as i + ao |
| iu | [iou̯] | yuo | as i + ou |
| ian | [iɛn] | yan | as i + an; like English yen |
| in | [in] | yin | as i + en; as in the English word “in”; |
| iang | [iɑŋ] | yang | as i + ang |
| ing | [iŋ] | ying | as i + eng |
| u | [u] | wu | like English “oo”, except in xu and yu, where it is pronounced as u |
| ua | [ua] | wa | as u + a |
| uo | [uɔ] | wo | as u + o; the o is pronounced shorter and lighter than in the o final |
| uai | [uaɪ] | wai | as u + ai |
| ui | [ueɪ] | wei | as u + ei; here, the i is pronounced like ei |
| uan | [uan] | wan | as u + an |
| un | [uən] | wen | as u + en; like the on in the English won |
| uang | [uɑŋ] | wang | as u + ang; like the ang in English angst or anger |
| ong | [uɤŋ] | weng | as u + eng; starts with the vowel sound in book and ends with the velar nasal sound in sing |
| ü | [y] | yu | as in German “üben” or French “lune” (To get this sound, say “ee” with rounded lips) |
| üe | [yɛ] | yue | as ü + ê; the ü is short and light |
| üan | [yan] | yuan | as ü + an; |
| ün | [yən] | yun | as ü + in; |
| iong | [yɤŋ] | yong | as ü + eng; |