The "a" vowel
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Level
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In series Pinyin quick start guide
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Referenced finals
The first vowel you want to learn in pinyin is "a." It can combine with all of those easy sounds you already learned in part 1 of this guide, so it's a great place to start.
Contents
Pinyin's Main "a" Vowel Sound
Although the "a" sound in Chinese can vary a little bit, and is slightly changed when followed by a "-n" or a "-ng" sound, it should sound more or less consistent in the syllables introduced in this section. Remember that you can click on the sounds in the chart fragment to hear audio.
- -a sounds like the "a" sound in the English words "ah" or "ha" or "father".
- -ai sounds like the "ai" in the English words "Thai" and "aisle".
- -ao sounds pretty much like the word "Tao"/"Dao" which we've imported into English from Chinese, or the "ow" in the English word "how", but with a rather muted “w” sound at the end.
- -an sounds similar to “on” (minus a strong “aw” sound like in “lawn”) but you may also hear a hint of the vowel sound in the English word “can”. This sound doesn't match up to English sounds perfectly, but it's not hard to approximate.
- -ang sounds similar to the "ong" sound in the word "King Kong". Because you have the nasalized "-ng" ending, the "a" vowel changes slightly, but that's not something you should have to worry about too much.
Pinyin Chart Fragment
This is just a part of the full pinyin chart, limited to the sounds we've covered so far.
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-a | -ai | -ao | -an | -ang | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
b- | b- | |||||
p- | p- | |||||
m- | m- | |||||
f- | f- | |||||
d- | d- | |||||
t- | t- | |||||
n- | n- | |||||
l- | l- | |||||
z- | z- | |||||
c- | c- | |||||
s- | s- | |||||
g- | g- | |||||
k- | k- | |||||
h- | h- | |||||
-a | -ai | -ao | -an | -ang |
Pinyin's Alternate "a" Vowel Sounds
The letter "a" in pinyin can actually make different sounds as well, when it is part of the "-ian" and "-üan" finals. Those sounds will be covered in later sections of this guide.
For now, let's move on to the "e" vowel.
Sources and further reading
- Sinosplice: Chinese Pronunciation
- ChinesePod: A with Easy Consonants