Pinyin — Day 4 — Second Initials: g k h, and j q x
Today's 6 more initials: g k h follow the same aspiration pattern as yesterday, while j q x are a flat-tongue set with one golden rule you must memorize.
Today's Vocabulary
哥
older brother
我哥很高。
Wǒ gē hěn gāo.
My older brother is very tall.
咖啡
coffee
我喝咖啡。
Wǒ hē kāfēi.
I drink coffee.
喝
to drink
你喝水吗？
Nǐ hē shuǐ ma?
Do you drink water?
鸡
chicken
这是一只鸡。
Zhè shì yì zhī jī.
This is a chicken.
七
seven
现在七点。
Xiànzài qī diǎn.
It's seven o'clock now.
西
west
太阳从西边下山。
Tàiyáng cóng xībian xiàshān.
The sun sets in the west.
去
to go
我去学校。
Wǒ qù xuéxiào.
I go to school.
Today's Grammar
g = unaspirated "k" sound (like b/d before it, no puff of air) | k = aspirated "k" (strong puff of air) | h = like a raspy "h" from the throat j q x are flat-tongued, wide-smile sounds — a sharper j/ch/s quality. Golden rule #1: j q x are ALWAYS followed by i or ü, never a plain "u". When written, the dots on ü get dropped after j/q/x: ju qu xu are really jü qü xü — pronounced "jyu chyu syu", NOT "joo choo soo"!
哥
"older brother" — g is unaspirated
咖啡
"coffee" — k is strongly aspirated
喝
"to drink" — h is a raspy throat sound
鸡
"chicken" — j is flat-tongued
七
"seven" — q is flat-tongued, aspirated
西
"west" — x is flat-tongued
去
"to go" — special note: read as "chyu", NOT "choo", because u after q is really ü with the dots dropped