Pinyin — Day 1 — The 6 Simple Finals (a o e i u ü)
Pinyin has 6 core simple finals: a o e i u ü. Today we'll practice all 6 vowels across all 4 tones, and meet the special ü — the two dots on top mean it's pronounced differently from a plain u.
Today's Vocabulary
啊
ah (interjection)
啊？
á?
Huh?
我
I / me
我是
wǒ shì
I am
鹅
goose
一只鹅
yì zhī é
one goose
饿
hungry
我饿了
wǒ è le
I am hungry
衣
clothes
衣服
yīfu
clothing
姨
aunt
阿姨
āyí
auntie
五
five
五个
wǔ ge
five (items)
女
female
女儿
nǚ'ér
daughter
Today's Grammar
The 6 simple finals: a, o, e, i, u, and ü (round your lips like u, but put your tongue where it is for i). ü keeps its dots only when it stands alone or follows n/l (e.g. nǚ, lǜ) — after j/q/x/y the dots are dropped and it's just written u (more on that on Day 7).
啊 阿
Practice the "a" final across Tone 2 and Tone 1.
喔 我
Practice the "o" final: ō flat, wǒ (I/me) dipping-rising.
鹅 饿
Practice the "e" final: é (goose) rising, è (hungry) falling.
衣 姨
Practice the "i" final: yī (clothes) flat, yí (aunt) rising.
五 女
wǔ (the "u" final) vs nǚ (the "ü" final — note the two dots, a different sound from u).