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. In this section it only appears after the -s sound, in the syllable si:

• si is a bit different from any sound we have in English, but it probably sounds most like the "si" in the English word "sit". It's definitely not at all like the English word "see".

Be sure to listen to the audio below to get a feel for the syllable si. You'll be hearing this special "i" sound again in future sections.

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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