Pinyin: the "j" "q" and "x" sounds

Revision as of 09:20, 20 February 2015 by WikiSysop (talk | contribs)

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.

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.

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.

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

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