The "j" "q" and "x" sounds

You've reached the end of the road! We've saved something special for you, though. The Chinese sounds represented by "x-", "q-", and "j-" in pinyin do not exist in English, and require you to train your mouth to make totally new sounds. Hopefully that sounds like fun! It's not as hard as you might imagine.

Pronouncing Pinyin's "x" Sound

To learn to make these new sounds, start with the pinyin "x-" sound. You may have heard that it's pronounced like English "sh" or seen it written as the somewhat confusing "hs." Neither of these is particularly helpful; you just have to learn to make a new sound.

To make the pinyin "x-" sound, try to make a "sh" sound while the tip of your tongue is down, below your lower front teeth. The middle of your tongue should rise to the roof of your mouth to make the sound. This should feel weird, because this is not something you normally do in English.

One way you know you're making the "x-" sound correctly is that you can comfortably smile while you make it, whereas it's a bit difficult to do this with the "sh" sound. A good syllable to practice the "x-" sound with first is "xi". Then move on to the super-common word "xièxie" (meaning "thank you").

Let's take a look at all the syllables we can now say:

Audio	Pinyin	Explanation
xi1	xi	easy; rhymes with yi, mi, etc.
xia1	xia	rhymes with ya
xiao1	xiao	rhymes with yao
xie1	xie	rhymes with ye
xiu1	xiu	there's an "o" dropped here; it's pronounced "xiou" and rhymes with you
xian1	xian	rhymes with yan; this "-an" means an "en" sound
xiang1	xiang	rhymes with yang
xin	xin	rhymes with yin
xing1	xing	rhymes with ying
xiong1	xiong	rhymes with yong
xu1	xu	this is the x- sound with the -ü vowel (remember; that "u" is written without the two dots, just like "yu", but it is actually an "ü" sound!)
xue1	xue	xu + "eh" (remember; that "u" is actually a "ü" sound!)
xuan1	xuan	this is xu + "en", like the "-an" in "yan". You could also pronounce this like xue + -n (remember; that "u" is actually a "ü" sound!)
xun1	xun	ryhmes with yun (remember: that "u" is actually a "ü" sound!)

Pronouncing Pinyin's "q" Sound

Once you can make the "x-" sound, move on to the "q-" sound. Again, the pinyin "q-" sound is not the same as the English "ch" sound, although it may sound similar to you at first, and some inaccurate pronunciation guides will tell you they're the same. (If they were really the same, why concoct a "q-" sound at all??)

Pinyin's "x-" and "q-" sounds are very similar to each other, in the same way that "sh" and "ch" sounds are similar to each other (in English as well as in Chinese). You're basically adding a "t" sound to the front of the "x-" to get the "q-" sound. A good syllable to practice the "q-" sound with first is "qi".

For individual syllable with "q-", just apply all the comments under "x" above, replacing all the X's with Q's. All the same logic applies. Let's take a look at just a few of the syllables we can now say:

Audio	Pinyin	Audio	Pinyin
qi1	qi	qie1	qie
qiu1	qiu	qian1	qian

Pronouncing Pinyin's "j" Sound

Finally, move on to "j-", which is not the same as the English "j" sound. The tip of your tongue should be down behind your lower front teeth when making this sound, just as it is for the "x-" and "q-" sounds. If you try to make an English "j" sounds with your tongue in this new position, you should be to make the pinyin "j-" sound. A good syllable to practice the "j-" sound with first is "ji".

For individual syllable with "j-", just apply all the comments under "x" above, replacing all the X's with J's. All the same logic applies. Let's take a look at just a few of the syllables we can now say:

Audio	Pinyin	Audio	Pinyin
ju1	ju	jiang1	jiang
jin1	jin	jing1	jing

Pinyin Chart with Audio

In the chart below, you'll notice that a bunch of the vowels are missing. There is no "a" vowel, no "o" vowel, and no "u" vowel. Those is because pinyin "j-", "q-", and "x-" simply do not combine with those vowels at all. Every time you see a "u" vowel in the chart below, it's actually a "ü" vowel written as "u" for convenience (and a quick check of the column title will make that clear).

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	-a-	-e-	-o-	-i-	-i	-i*	-ia	-iao	-ie	-iou	-ian	-iang	-in	-ing	-iong	-u-	-ü-	-ü	-üe	-üan	-ün
j-					ji ji [tɕi] ㄐㄧ chi		jia jia [tɕi̯ɑ] ㄐㄧㄚ chia	jiao jiao [tɕi̯ɑʊ̯] ㄐㄧㄠ chiao	jie jie [tɕiɛ] ㄐㄧㄝ chieh	jiu jiu [tɕi̯ɤʊ̯] ㄐㄧㄡ chiu	jian jian [tɕiɛn] ㄐㄧㄢ chien	jiang jiang [tɕi̯ɑŋ] ㄐㄧㄤ chiang	jin jin [tɕin] ㄐㄧㄣ chin	jing jing [tɕiŋ] ㄐㄧㄥ ching	jiong jiong [tɕi̯ʊŋ] ㄐㄩㄥ chiung			ju ju [tɕy] ㄐㄩ chü	jue jue [tɕy̯œ] ㄐㄩㄝ chüeh	juan juan [tɕy̯ɛn] ㄐㄩㄢ chüan	jun jun [tɕyn] ㄐㄩㄣ chün	j-
q-					qi qi [tɕʰi] ㄑㄧ ch'i		qia qia [tɕʰi̯ɑ] ㄑㄧㄚ ch'ia	qiao qiao [tɕʰi̯ɑʊ̯] ㄑㄧㄠ ch'iao	qie qie [tɕʰiɛ] ㄑㄧㄝ ch'ieh	qiu qiu [tɕʰi̯ɤʊ̯] ㄑㄧㄡ ch'iu	qian qian [tɕʰiɛn] ㄑㄧㄢ ch'ien	qiang qiang [tɕʰi̯ɑŋ] ㄑㄧㄤ ch'iang	qin qin [tɕʰin] ㄑㄧㄣ ch'in	qing qing [tɕʰiŋ] ㄑㄧㄥ ch'ing	qiong qiong [tɕʰi̯ʊŋ] ㄑㄩㄥ ch'iung			qu qu [tɕʰy] ㄑㄩ ch'ü	que que [tɕʰy̯œ] ㄑㄩㄝ ch'üeh	quan quan [tɕʰy̯ɛn] ㄑㄩㄢ ch'üan	qun qun [tɕʰyn] ㄑㄩㄣ ch'ün	q-
x-					xi xi [ɕi] ㄒㄧ his		xia xia [ɕi̯ɑ] ㄒㄧㄚ hsia	xiao xiao [ɕi̯ɑʊ̯] ㄒㄧㄠ hsiao	xie xie [ɕiɛ] ㄒㄧㄝ hsieh	xiu xiu [ɕi̯ɤʊ̯] ㄒㄧㄡ hsiu	xian xian [ɕiɛn] ㄒㄧㄢ hsien	xiang xiang [ɕi̯ɑŋ] ㄒㄧㄤ hsiang	xin xin [ɕin] ㄒㄧㄣ hsin	xing xing [ɕiŋ] ㄒㄧㄥ hsing	xiong xiong [ɕi̯ʊŋ] ㄒㄩㄥ hsiung			xu xu [ɕy] ㄒㄩ hsü	xue xue [ɕy̯œ] ㄒㄩㄝ hsüeh	xuan xuan [ɕy̯ɛn] ㄒㄩㄢ hsüan	xun xun [ɕyn] ㄒㄩㄣ hsün	x-
	-a-	-e-	-o-	-i-	-i	-i*	-ia	-iao	-ie	-iou	-ian	-iang	-in	-ing	-iong	-u-	-ü-	-ü	-üe	-üan	-ün

After studying these sounds, be sure to take a look at how they fit in with the larger context of the pinyin chart.

Key Takeaways

1. The Mandarin Chinese sounds written "x-", "q-", and "j-" do not exist in English; don't let anyone tell you otherwise
2. Start with "x-", if you can make that sound, it shouldn't be hard to make "q-" and then "j-"
3. When you make the "x-" sound, make sure that the tip of your tongue is down, behind your lower front teeth (and same position for pinyin "q-" and "j-"), and that you can smile as you make it
4. Whenever you see the vowel "u" after an "x-", "q-", or "j-", it is actually the "ü" vowel in disguise

Review the "Gotchas"

If you're like most people, there are certain pinyin syllables that are really easy to get wrong. This really is a lot of information to absorb. We've collected all the points that learners are most likely to forget on the pinyin gotchas page. Please refer to this for review!

A1 pronunciation points