What are initials in Mandarin?
Mandarin characters don¡¯t tell you how to pronounce a word.
Pinyin was invented to help those learning Mandarin with pronunciation - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. p¨©n y¨©n literally translates to ¡®spell sound¡¯.
As shown, the sound of a character consists of an initial, a final and one of four tones or a neutral tone.
Initials are the consonant at the beginning of the mandarin syllable.
How do you pronounce initials in Mandarin?
B - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ²ú¨¤ (father)
P - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ±è¨¢ (climb)
M - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ³¾¨¡ (mother)
F - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ch¨± f¨¡ (set off)
D - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. »å¨¤ (big)
T - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ³Ù¨¡ (he)
N - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. n¨¤ ge (that one)
L - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ±ô¨¤ (spicy)
G - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ²µ¨¨ (measure word)
K - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. °ì¨£ (card)
H - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ³ó¨¥ (drink)
J - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. Âá¾±¨¡ (home)
Q - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ±ç¨© (seven)
X - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. xi¨¤ mi¨¤n (beneath or below)
Zh - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ³ú³ó¨¨ (this)
Ch - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. c³ó¨¥ (vehicle)
Sh - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ²õ³ó¨¦ (snake)
R - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. °ù¨¨ (hot)
Z - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ³ú³Ü¨« (mouth)
C - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ³¦¨¡ (wipe)
S - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ²â¨¢n s¨¨ (colour)
Y - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ²â¨¢ (tooth)
W - Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. ±ç¨©ng w¨¡ (frog)
Did you know?
For many Mandarin sounds, once the pronunciation of their initials and finals is known, the pronunciation of the full word can be figured out by combining the two with their tone, for example:
Initial - j
Final - i and ao
Tone - v (down then up)
Initial - d
Final - u and an
Tone - v (down then up)
Initial - ch
Final - ang
Tone - ? (rising)
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