The "e" vowel

The "a" vowel is a pretty easy one. Time to take on a vowel that is just slightly trickier. The "e" in Mandarin Chinese is slightly tricky because it can be pronounced in two different ways. You simply have to memorize when it makes one sound and when it makes the other.

Pinyin's Main "e" Vowel Sound

The main sound that pinyin "e" makes is a rather unexpected "uh" sound, totally different from both the short "e" sound of "pen" in English, and the long "e" sound of "see".

• -e sounds kind of like the English "duh" or "uhhh" sound (like somone thinking or getting punched in the stomach).
• -en sounds how you'd expect; the above "-e" sound followed by the "-n" sound. It's kind of like the "un" sound in the English word "sun", but not exactly the same.
• -eng also sounds how you'd expect; the above "-e" sound followed by the "-ng" sound. It's kind of like the "ung" sound in the English word "sung", but not exactly the same.

An Alternate "e" Vowel Sound

Now that you know the main sound that "e" makes in pinyin, you also need to learn a different sound it makes (which also appears in the chart fragment below).

• -ei sounds like the vowel in the English word "eight" or the Japanese brand "Seiko".

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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	-a-	-e-	-e	-ei	-en	-eng	-er	-o-	-i-	-u-	-ü-
∅-			e e [ɯ̯ʌ] ㄜ e	ei ei [eɪ̯] ㄟ ei	en en [ən] ㄣ en	eng eng [əŋ] ㄥ eng	er er [ɑɻ] ㄦ erh					∅-
b-				bei bei [peɪ̯] ㄅㄟ pei	ben ben [pən] ㄅㄣ pen	beng beng [pəŋ] ㄅㄥ peng						b-
p-				pei pei [pʰeɪ̯] ㄆㄟ p'ei	pen pen [pʰən] ㄆㄣ p'en	peng peng [pʰəŋ] ㄆㄥ p'eng						p-
m-			me me [mɯ̯ʌ] ㄇㄜ me	mei mei [meɪ̯] ㄇㄟ mei	men men [mən] ㄇㄣ men	meng meng [məŋ] ㄇㄥ meng						m-
f-				fei fei [feɪ̯] ㄈㄟ fei	fen fen [fən] ㄈㄣ fen	feng feng [fəŋ] ㄈㄥ feng						f-
d-			de de [tɯ̯ʌ] ㄉㄜ te	dei dei [teɪ̯] ㄉㄟ tei	den den [tən] ㄉㄣ ten	deng deng [təŋ] ㄉㄥ teng						d-
t-			te te [tʰɯ̯ʌ] ㄊㄜ t'e			teng teng [tʰəŋ] ㄊㄥ t'eng						t-
n-			ne ne [nɯ̯ʌ] ㄋㄜ ne	nei nei [neɪ̯] ㄋㄟ nei	nen nen [nən] ㄋㄣ nen	neng neng [nəŋ] ㄋㄥ neng						n-
l-			le le [lɯ̯ʌ] ㄌㄜ le	lei lei [leɪ̯] ㄌㄟ lei		leng leng [ləŋ] ㄌㄥ leng						l-
z-			ze ze [tsɯ̯ʌ] ㄗㄜ tse	zei zei [tseɪ̯] ㄗㄟ tsei	zen zen [tsən] ㄗㄣ tsen	zeng zeng [tsəŋ] ㄗㄥ tseng						z-
c-			ce ce [tsʰɯ̯ʌ] ㄘㄜ ts'e	cei cei [tsʰeɪ̯] ㄘㄟ ts'ei	cen cen [tsʰən] ㄘㄣ ts'en	ceng ceng [tsʰəŋ] ㄘㄥ ts'eng						c-
s-			se se [sɯ̯ʌ] ㄙㄜ se		sen sen [sən] ㄙㄣ sen	seng seng [səŋ] ㄙㄥ seng						s-
g-			ge ge [kɯ̯ʌ] ㄍㄜ ke	gei gei [keɪ̯] ㄍㄟ kei	gen gen [kən] ㄍㄣ ken	geng geng [kəŋ] ㄍㄥ keng						g-
k-			ke ke [kʰɯ̯ʌ] ㄎㄜ k'e	kei kei [kʰeɪ̯] ㄎㄟ k'ei	ken ken [kʰən] ㄎㄣ k'en	keng keng [kʰəŋ] ㄎㄥ k'eng						k-
h-			he he [xɯ̯ʌ] ㄏㄜ he	hei hei [xeɪ̯] ㄏㄟ hei	hen hen [xən] ㄏㄣ hen	heng heng [xəŋ] ㄏㄥ heng						h-
	-a-	-e-	-e	-ei	-en	-eng	-er	-o-	-i-	-u-	-ü-

Other "e" Vowel Sounds

Later on you'll learn that pinyin "e" makes a sound similar to -ei in the final -üe, but we're leaving that for another section.

Now let's move on to the "i" vowel.

Sources and further reading

• Sinosplice: Chinese Pronunciation
• ChinesePod: E with Easy Consonants

A1 pronunciation points