The "e" vowel

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The "a" vowel is a pretty easy one. Time to take on a vowel that is just slightly trickier. The "e" in Mandarin Chinese is slightly tricky because it can be pronounced in two different ways. You simply have to memorize when it makes one sound and when it makes the other.

Pinyin's Main "e" Vowel Sound

The main sound that pinyin "e" makes is a rather unexpected "uh" sound, totally different from both the short "e" sound in "pen" in English, and the long "e" sound in "see".

  • -e sounds kind of like the English "duh" or "uhhh" sound (like someone thinking, or getting punched in the stomach).
  • -en sounds how you'd expect; the above "-e" sound followed by the "-n" sound. It's kind of like the "un" sound in the English word "sun", but not exactly the same.
  • -eng also sounds how you'd expect; the above "-e" sound followed by the "-ng" sound. It's kind of like the "ung" sound in the English word "sung", but not exactly the same.

An Alternate "e" Vowel Sound

Now that you know the main sound that "e" makes in pinyin, you also need to learn a different sound it makes (which also appears in the chart fragment below).

  • -ei sounds like the vowel in the English word "eight" or the Japanese brand "Seiko".

Pinyin Chart Fragment

This is just a part of the full pinyin chart, limited to the sounds we've covered in this section.

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-e -ei -en -eng -er
∅-
e
ei
en
eng
er
∅-
b-
bei
ben
beng
b-
p-
pei
pen
peng
p-
m-
me
mei
men
meng
m-
f-
fei
fen
feng
f-
d-
de
dei
den
deng
d-
t-
te
teng
t-
n-
ne
nei
nen
neng
n-
l-
le
lei
leng
l-
z-
ze
zei
zen
zeng
z-
c-
ce
cei
cen
ceng
c-
s-
se
sen
seng
s-
g-
ge
gei
gen
geng
g-
k-
ke
kei
ken
keng
k-
h-
he
hei
hen
heng
h-
-e -ei -en -eng -er

Other "e" Vowel Sounds

Later on you'll learn that pinyin "e" makes a sound similar to -ei in the final -üe, but we're leaving that for another section.

Now let's move on to the "i" vowel.

Sources and further reading