The "o" and "u" vowels

Although we treated the "a" vowel, the "e" vowel, and the "i" vowel separately, we're going to present "o" and "u" together because, well... these two sounds kind of have a thing for each other, and it makes sense to do it this way.

Pinyin's Main "o" Vowel Sound

The "o" vowel sound in Mandarin can be a little tricky, because you probably expect it to sound like the English word "oh", but that sound is mostly represented by -ou in pinyin. Let's dig into the details.

• -o actually represents two different sounds in pinyin. The one at the top, o, is the pure "o" sound, although it sounds a bit terse and cut off, compared to the English word "oh". The syllable lo rhymes with o. All the other -o syllables in this column sound a bit different. The syllables bo, po, mo, fo seems to rhyme with the -uo column (coming up later in this section). For these syllables, the -o sound comes across like kind of a "oo-uh" sound, which you should really listen to a lot until you get a feel for it.
• -ou, as previously mentioned, is easy. It sounds pretty much like the English word "oh". No tricks! Just don't confuse it with -uo.

Pinyin's Main "u" Vowel Sound

• -u is super simple; it sounds like the English "oo" sound. The only catch is that the syllable at the top is written wu but pronounced "oo" (and not like "woo" as in Homer Simpson's "whoo-hoo" cry of joy). Everything in this column rhymes.
• -ua is pronounced as expected: "oo" + "ah". Remember to write the syllable at the top "wa"; it still rhymes with the three syllables below it: gua, kua, hua.
• -uai is just -u + -ai (two pinyin sounds you already know). Remember to write the syllable at the top "wai"; it still rhymes with the three syllables below it: guai, kuai, huai.
• -uei is a tricky one, because all three letters "uei" never occur together in an actual pinyin syllable. At the top, the syllable is written wei, which seems straightforward enough, and sounds like the English word "way". But the rhyming syllables below include the "u" but drop the letter "e", making them dui, tui, sui, gui, kui, hui. Remember that dui (like the others) is pronounced like "dway" and not "dwee"!

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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	-o-	-o	-ou	-ong	-u-	-u	-ua	-uai	-uei	-uo	-uan	-uang	-uen	-ueng
∅-		o o [ɔ] ㄛ o	ou ou [ɤʊ̯] ㄡ ou			wu wu [u] ㄨ wu	wa wa [u̯ɑ] ㄨㄚ wa	wai wai [u̯aɪ̯] ㄨㄞ wai	wei wei [u̯eɪ̯] ㄨㄟ wei	wo wo [u̯ɔ] ㄨㄛ wo	wan wan [u̯an] ㄨㄢ wan	wang wang [u̯ɑŋ] ㄨㄤ wang	wen wen [u̯ən] ㄨㄣ wen	weng weng [u̯əŋ] ㄨㄥ weng
b-		bo bo [pu̯ɔ] ㄅㄛ po				bu bu [pu] ㄅㄨ pu
p-		po po [pʰu̯ɔ] ㄆㄛ p'o	pou pou [pʰɤʊ̯] ㄆㄡ p'ou			pu pu [pʰu] ㄆㄨ p'u
m-		mo mo [mu̯ɔ] ㄇㄛ mo	mou mou [mɤʊ̯] ㄇㄡ mou			mu mu [mu] ㄇㄨ mu
f-		fo fo [fu̯ɔ] ㄈㄛ fo	fou fou [fɤʊ̯] ㄈㄡ fou			fu fu [fu] ㄈㄨ fu
d-			dou dou [tɤʊ̯] ㄉㄡ tou	dong dong [tʊŋ] ㄉㄨㄥ tung		du du [tu] ㄉㄨ tu			dui dui [tu̯eɪ̯] ㄉㄨㄟ tui	duo duo [tu̯ɔ] ㄉㄨㄛ to	duan duan [tu̯an] ㄉㄨㄢ tuan		dun dun [tu̯ən] ㄉㄨㄣ tun
t-			tou tou [tʰɤʊ̯] ㄊㄡ t'ou	tong tong [tʰʊŋ] ㄊㄨㄥ t'ung		tu tu [tʰu] ㄊㄨ t'u			tui tui [tʰu̯eɪ̯] ㄊㄨㄟ t'ui	tuo tuo [tʰu̯ɔ] ㄊㄨㄛ t'o	tuan tuan [tʰu̯an] ㄊㄨㄢ t'uan		tun tun [tʰu̯ən] ㄊㄨㄣ t'un
n-			nou nou [nɤʊ̯] ㄋㄡ nou	nong nong [nʊŋ] ㄋㄨㄥ nung		nu nu [nu] ㄋㄨ nu				nuo nuo [nu̯ɔ] ㄋㄨㄛ no	nuan nuan [nu̯an] ㄋㄨㄢ nuan
l-		lo lo [lu̯ɔ] ㄌㄛ lo	lou lou [lɤʊ̯] ㄌㄡ lou	long long [lʊŋ] ㄌㄨㄥ lung		lu lu [lu] ㄌㄨ lu				luo luo [lu̯ɔ] ㄌㄨㄛ lo	luan luan [lu̯an] ㄌㄨㄢ luan		lun lun [lu̯ən] ㄌㄨㄣ lun
s-			sou sou [sɤʊ̯] ㄙㄡ sou	song song [sʊŋ] ㄙㄨㄥ sung		su su [su] ㄙㄨ su			sui sui [su̯eɪ̯] ㄙㄨㄟ sui	suo suo [su̯ɔ] ㄙㄨㄛ so	suan suan [su̯an] ㄙㄨㄢ suan		sun sun [su̯ən] ㄙㄨㄣ sun
g-			gou gou [kɤʊ̯] ㄍㄡ kou	gong gong [kʊŋ] ㄍㄨㄥ kung		gu gu [ku] ㄍㄨ ku	gua gua [ku̯ɑ] ㄍㄨㄚ kua	guai guai [ku̯aɪ̯] ㄍㄨㄞ kuai	gui gui [ku̯eɪ̯] ㄍㄨㄟ kui	guo guo [ku̯ɔ] ㄍㄨㄛ ko	guan guan [ku̯an] ㄍㄨㄢ kuan	guang guang [ku̯ɑŋ] ㄍㄨㄤ kuang	gun gun [ku̯ən] ㄍㄨㄣ kun
k-			kou kou [kʰɤʊ̯] ㄎㄡ k'ou	kong kong [kʰʊŋ] ㄎㄨㄥ k'ung		ku ku [kʰu] ㄎㄨ k'u	kua kua [kʰu̯ɑ] ㄎㄨㄚ k'ua	kuai kuai [kʰu̯aɪ̯] ㄎㄨㄞ k'uai	kui kui [kʰu̯eɪ̯] ㄎㄨㄟ k'ui	kuo kuo [kʰu̯ɔ] ㄎㄨㄛ k'o	kuan kuan [kʰu̯an] ㄎㄨㄢ k'uan	kuang kuang [kʰu̯ɑŋ] ㄎㄨㄤ k'uang	kun kun [kʰu̯ən] ㄎㄨㄣ k'un
h-			hou hou [xɤʊ̯] ㄏㄡ hou	hong hong [xʊŋ] ㄏㄨㄥ hung		hu hu [xu] ㄏㄨ hu	hua hua [xu̯ɑ] ㄏㄨㄚ hua	huai huai [xu̯aɪ̯] ㄏㄨㄞ huai	hui hui [xu̯eɪ̯] ㄏㄨㄟ hui	huo huo [xu̯ɔ] ㄏㄨㄛ ho	huan huan [xu̯an] ㄏㄨㄢ huan	huang huang [xu̯ɑŋ] ㄏㄨㄤ huang	hun hun [xu̯ən] ㄏㄨㄣ hun

This section has been quite full! Be sure to listen to the audio a lot and get really familiar with these sounds. Then move on to the "c" and "z" sounds.

Sources and further reading

• Sinosplice: Chinese Pronunciation
• ChinesePod: Non-Nasal U with Easy Consonants, Nasal U with Easy Consonants

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