The "i" vowel

Hopefully you enjoyed mastering the different sounds that the "e" vowel could make, because the "i" vowel turns up the difficulty just a bit more.

Pinyin's Main "i" Vowel Sound

You should already be familiar with this "i" sound because it's essentially the same one that you encountered when learning the finals -ai and -ei. This "i" sounds like the English "ee" sound in the word "see".

Pinyin's Other "i" Vowel Sound

Here's the catch: pinyin "i" can make a totally different sound when it comes after certain sounds.

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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	-i-	-i	-i*	-ia	-iao	-ie	-iou	-ian	-iang	-in	-ing	-iong
∅-		yi yi [i] ㄧ i		ya ya [i̯ɑ] ㄧㄚ ya	yao yao [i̯ɑʊ̯] ㄧㄠ yao	ye ye [iɛ] ㄧㄝ yeh	you you [i̯ɤʊ̯] ㄧㄡ yu	yan yan [iɛn] ㄧㄢ yan	yang yang [i̯ɑŋ] ㄧㄤ yang	yin yin [yin] ㄧㄣ yin	ying ying [yiŋ] ㄧㄥ ying	yong yong ㄩㄥ yung
b-		bi bi [pi] ㄅㄧ pi			biao biao [pi̯ɑʊ̯] ㄅㄧㄠ piao	bie bie [piɛ] ㄅㄧㄝ pieh		bian bian [piɛn] ㄅㄧㄢ pien		bin bin [pin] ㄅㄧㄣ pin	bing bing [piŋ] ㄅㄧㄥ ping
p-		pi pi [pʰi] ㄆㄧ p'i			piao piao [pʰi̯ɑʊ̯] ㄆㄧㄠ p'iao	pie pie [pʰiɛ] ㄆㄧㄝ p'ieh		pian pian [pʰiɛn] ㄆㄧㄢ p'ien		min min [pʰin] ㄆㄧㄣ p'in	ping ping [pʰiŋ] ㄆㄧㄥ p'ing
m-		mi mi [mi] ㄇㄧ mi			miao miao [mi̯ɑʊ̯] ㄇㄧㄠ miao	mie mie [miɛ] ㄇㄧㄝ mieh	miu miu [mi̯ɤʊ̯] ㄇㄧㄡ miu	mian mian [miɛn] ㄇㄧㄢ mien			ming ming [miŋ] ㄇㄧㄥ ming
f-
d-		di di [ti] ㄉㄧ ti			diao diao [ti̯ɑʊ̯] ㄉㄧㄠ tiao	die die [tiɛ] ㄉㄧㄝ tieh	diu diu [ti̯ɤʊ̯] ㄉㄧㄡ tiu	dian dian [tiɛn] ㄉㄧㄢ tien			ding ding [tiŋ] ㄉㄧㄥ ting
t-		ti ti [tʰi] ㄊㄧ t'i			tiao tiao [tʰi̯ɑʊ̯] ㄊㄧㄠ t'iao	tie tie [tʰiɛ] ㄊㄧㄝ t'ieh		tian tian [tʰiɛn] ㄊㄧㄢ t'ien			ting ting [tʰiŋ] ㄊㄧㄥ t'ing
n-		ni ni [ni] ㄋㄧ ni			niao niao [ni̯ɑʊ̯] ㄋㄧㄠ niao	nie nie [niɛ] ㄋㄧㄝ nieh	niu niu [ni̯ɤʊ̯] ㄋㄧㄡ niu	nian nian [niɛn] ㄋㄧㄢ nien	niang niang [ni̯ɑŋ] ㄋㄧㄤ niang	nin nin [nin] ㄋㄧㄣ nin	ning ning [niŋ] ㄋㄧㄥ ning
l-		li li [li] ㄌㄧ li		lia lia [li̯ɑ] ㄌㄧㄚ lia	liao liao [li̯ɑʊ̯] ㄌㄧㄠ liao	lie lie [liɛ] ㄌㄧㄝ lieh	liu liu [li̯ɤʊ̯] ㄌㄧㄡ liu	lian lian [liɛn] ㄌㄧㄢ lien	liang liang [li̯ɑŋ] ㄌㄧㄤ liang	lin lin [lin] ㄌㄧㄣ lin	ling ling [liŋ] ㄌㄧㄥ ling
s-			si si [sɿ] ㄙ ssu
g-
k-
h-

Now let's move on to the "o" and "u" vowels.

Sources and further reading

• Sinosplice: Chinese Pronunciation
• ChinesePod: I with Easy Consonants, I with Z, C, S, ZH, CH, SH, R

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