Y-

The letter "y", like "w" (w-), is not considered an initial in pinyin. Why?

There are two main cases where the letter "y" is used, and in neither case does it represent a unique sound:

Case #1: "y" replaces "i"

When a syllable has no initial (linguists call this the "zero initial") and the first letter is "i", it gets changed to a "y":

  • ya: "y" replaces the "i" in -ia
  • yan: "y" replaces the "i" in -ian
  • ye: "y" replaces the "i" in -ie
  • yin: "y" replaces the "i" in -in
  • yong: "y" replaces the "i" in -iong

Case #2: "yu" replaces "ü"

When a syllable has no initial (linguists call this the "zero initial") and the first letter is "ü", it gets changed to a "yu":

Why do these? Because it would make pinyin a lot harder to read a lot of the time. So the "y" makes it much easier to pick out syllables when there is a cluster of vowels in a word.

Case #3: "y" starts the syllable

When -u has no initial (linguists call this the "zero initial"), a "w" gets added on to the front of the syllable:

  • yi: "y" is added to the "i" in -i
  • yu: "yu" replaces

This is done for the same reasons as Case #1 above.