The "ch" "sh" and "zh" sounds

The sounds represented by "ch-," "sh-," and "zh-" in pinyin are all very similar sounds in Chinese. They're meant to be grouped together, and they should be learned together. The good news is that these sounds are not too different from the English "ch", "sh", and "j" sounds (note that "zh-" sounds like the English "j" sound; the pinyin "j-" sound is totally different beast, to be introduced later).

Pinyin's "ch", "sh", and "zh" Sounds

These are the famous "retroflex" sounds of Mandarin Chinese. You may have heard that to make these sounds, you have to "curl your tongue back into your mouth." You may have visions of the tip of your tongue pointing way into the back of your throat, your tongue horribly contorted. It's really not all that crazy. You just need to pull your tongue a bit further into the back of your mouth to pronounce these sounds properly, but you won't need to do any insane contortions.

Audio	Pinyin	Audio	Pinyin	Audio	Pinyin
chi1	chī	shi1	shī	zhi1	zhī

(First tone is most commonly used when introducing syllables in Mandarin Chinese.)

ch-

Ch-Diagram

• ch- is very similar to the English "ch" sound, except that in Mandarin Chinese the tongue position is a bit further back.
• chi is not pronounced like "chee", this is an alternate -i sound pretty similar to the zi, ci, si vowel sounds you learned before. To make the chi sound, try to pronounce the English word "chirp", but STOP right as you get to the "r" sound. The chi sound has also been described as sounding like "chrrrrr" (which ryhmes with "brrrrr", the sound you make when you're cold).

sh-

Sh-Diagram

• sh- is very similar to the English "sh" sound, except that in Mandarin Chinese the tongue position is a bit further back.
• shi is not pronounced like "shee", this is an alternate -i sound pretty similar to the zi, ci, si vowel sounds you learned before. To make the shi sound, try to pronounce the English word "shirt", but STOP right as you get to the "r" sound. The shi sound has also been described as sounding like "shrrrrr" (which ryhmes with "brrrrr", the sound you make when you're cold).

zh-

Zh-Diagram

• zh- is very similar to the English "j" sound, except that in Mandarin Chinese the tongue position is a bit further back.
• zhi is not pronounced like "gee", this is an alternate -i sound pretty similar to the zi, ci, si vowel sounds you learned before. To make the zhi sound, try to pronounce the English word "jerk", but STOP right as you get to the "r" sound. The zhi sound has also been described as sounding like "zhrrrrr" (which ryhmes with "brrrrr", the sound you make when you're cold).

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-	-a	-ai	-ao	-an	-ang	-e-	-e	-ei	-en	-eng	-er	-o-	-o	-ou	-ong	-i-	-i	-i*	-ia	-iao	-ie	-iou	-ian	-iang	-in	-ing	-iong	-u-	-u	-ua	-uai	-uei	-uo	-uan	-uang	-uen	-ueng	-ü-
zh-		zha zha [tʂɑ] ㄓㄚ cha	zhai zhai [tʂaɪ̯] ㄓㄞ chai	zhao zhao [tʂɑʊ̯] ㄓㄠ chao	zhan zhan [tʂan] ㄓㄢ chan	zhang zhang [tʂɑŋ] ㄓㄤ chang		zhe zhe [tʂɯ̯ʌ] ㄓㄜ che	zhei zhei [tʂeɪ̯] ㄓㄟ chei	zhen zhen [tʂən] ㄓㄣ chen	zheng zheng [tʂəŋ] ㄓㄥ cheng				zhou zhou [tʂɤʊ̯] ㄓㄡ chou	zhong zhong [tʂʊŋ] ㄓㄨㄥ chung			zhi zhi [tʂʅ] ㄓ chih											zhu zhu [tʂu] ㄓㄨ chu	zhua zhua [tʂu̯ɑ] ㄓㄨㄚ chua	zhuai zhuai [tʂu̯aɪ̯] ㄓㄨㄞ chuai	zhui zhui [tʂu̯eɪ̯] ㄓㄨㄟ chui	zhuo zhuo [tʂu̯ɔ] ㄓㄨㄛ cho	zhuan zhuan [tʂu̯an] ㄓㄨㄢ chuan	zhuang zhuang [tʂ̯u̯ɑŋ] ㄓㄨㄤ chuang	zhun zhun [tʂu̯ən] ㄓㄨㄣ chun			zh-
ch-		cha cha [tʂʰɑ] ㄔㄚ ch'a	chai chai [tʂʰaɪ̯] ㄔㄞ ch'ai	chao chao [tʂʰɑʊ̯] ㄔㄠ ch'ao	chan chan [tʂʰan] ㄔㄢ ch'an	chang chang [tʂʰɑŋ] ㄔㄤ ch'ang		che che [tʂʰɯ̯ʌ] ㄔㄜ ch'e		chen chen [tʂʰən] ㄔㄣ ch'en	cheng cheng [tʂʰəŋ] ㄔㄥ ch'eng				chou chou [tʂʰɤʊ̯] ㄔㄡ ch'ou	chong chong [tʂʰʊŋ] ㄔㄨㄥ ch'ung			chi chi [tʂʰʅ] ㄔ ch'ih											chu chu [tʂʰu] ㄔㄨ ch'u	chua chua [tʂʰu̯ɑ] ㄔㄨㄚ ch'ua	chuai chuai [tʂʰu̯aɪ̯] ㄔㄨㄞ ch'uai	chui chui [tʂʰu̯eɪ̯] ㄔㄨㄟ ch'ui	chuo chuo [tʂʰu̯ɔ] ㄔㄨㄛ ch'o	chuan chuan [tʂʰu̯an] ㄔㄨㄢ ch'uan	chuang chuang [tʂʰu̯ɑŋ] ㄔㄨㄤ ch'uang	chun chun [tʂʰu̯ən] ㄔㄨㄣ ch'un			ch-
sh-		sha sha [ʂɑ] ㄕㄚ sha	shai shai [ʂaɪ̯] ㄕㄞ shai	shao shao [ʂɑʊ̯] ㄕㄠ shao	shan shan [ʂan] ㄕㄢ shan	shang shang [ʂɑŋ] ㄕㄤ shang		she she [ʂɯ̯ʌ] ㄕㄜ she	shei shei [ʂeɪ̯] ㄕㄟ shei	shen shen [ʂən] ㄕㄣ shen	sheng sheng [ʂəŋ] ㄕㄥ sheng				shou shou [ʂɤʊ̯] ㄕㄡ shou				shi shi [ʂʅ] ㄕ shih											shu shu [ʂu] ㄕㄨ shu	shua shua [ʂu̯ɑ] ㄕㄨㄚ shua	shuai shuai [ʂu̯aɪ̯] ㄕㄨㄞ shuai	shui shui [ʂu̯eɪ̯] ㄕㄨㄟ shui	shuo shuo [ʂu̯ɔ] ㄕㄨㄛ sho	shuan shuan [ʂu̯an] ㄕㄨㄢ shuan	shuang shuang [ʂu̯ɑŋ] ㄕㄨㄤ shuang	shun shun [ʂu̯ən] ㄕㄨㄣ shun			sh-
r-				rao rao [ʐɑʊ̯] ㄖㄠ jao	ran ran [ʐan] ㄖㄢ jan	rang rang [ʐɑŋ] ㄖㄤ jang		re re [ʐɯ̯ʌ] ㄖㄜ je		ren ren [ʐən] ㄖㄣ jen	reng reng [ʐəŋ] ㄖㄥ jeng				rou rou [ʐɤʊ̯] ㄖㄡ jou	rong rong [ʐʊŋ] ㄖㄨㄥ jung			ri ri [ʐʅ] ㄖ jih											ru ru [ʐu] ㄖㄨ ju	rua rua [ʐu̯ɑ] ㄖㄨㄚ jua		rui rui [ʐu̯eɪ̯] ㄖㄨㄟ jui	ruo ruo [ʐu̯ɔ] ㄖㄨㄛ jo	ruan ruan [ʐu̯an] ㄖㄨㄢ juan		run run [ʐu̯ən] ㄖㄨㄣ jun			r-
	-a-	-a	-ai	-ao	-an	-ang	-e-	-e	-ei	-en	-eng	-er	-o-	-o	-ou	-ong	-i-	-i	-i*	-ia	-iao	-ie	-iou	-ian	-iang	-in	-ing	-iong	-u-	-u	-ua	-uai	-uei	-uo	-uan	-uang	-uen	-ueng	-ü-

Keep going! The exciting "r" sound is next.

Sources and further reading

• Sinosplice: Chinese Pronunciation
• ChinesePod: A, O with ZH, CH, SH, R, E with Z, C, S, ZH, CH, SH, R, I with Z, C, S, ZH, CH, SH, R, U with ZH, CH, SH, R

A1 pronunciation points