Read pinyin without English guesses

Read a new word without an English guess

You see to go去qù qù, go, on your word card. The q is not English k, and its written u represents the rounded front vowel ü. Learn the spelling rule with the sound; neither an English respelling nor a letter name is enough.

Place the tongue, then add air

Initial	Starting guide	Example
j	front of tongue near the hard palate; unaspirated affricate	fowl鸡jī jī, chicken
q	similar place to j, with aspiration	seven七qī qī, seven
x	similar front-palate area, continuous friction	west西xī xī, west
z / c	tongue near the teeth; c adds aspiration	letter字zì zì, character; word词cí cí, word
zh / ch / sh	tongue tip farther back; ch is aspirated	to know知zhī zhī, know; variant of 吃吃chī chī, eat; poem诗shī shī, poem

The table gives physical cues, not English sound equivalents. Compare j/q as well as z/c and zh/ch. Keep r separate too: person人rén rén, person. Ask a teacher to check the contrast rather than assuming an English r is identical.

ü keeps its sound when dots disappear

Make an ee-like tongue position, then round the lips without moving the tongue back. Compare archaic variant of 汝女nǚ nǚ, female, with to exert努nǔ nǔ, strive. After n and l the dots distinguish words: nǚ, lǜ. After j, q, x and the spelling letter y, the dots are omitted: to go去qù qù, fish鱼yú yú. Their u still represents ü in these spellings.

Understand the shortened finals

After an initial, iou, uei and uen are normally written iu, ui and un: nine九jiǔ jiǔ, nine; water水shuǐ shuǐ, water; opinion论lùn lùn, discuss. The spelling does not mean that an internal sound has simply vanished. Other spelling rules apply when the syllable has no initial: for example, you, wei and wen.

The last-vowel marking in liù and shuǐ follows the tone-mark convention. Split to thank谢谢xiè xiè xièxie into xiè + xie, notice the light second syllable, and practise the whole word. Avoid invented English spellings such as “ssh-yeh”, which can reinforce the wrong tongue position.

A fresh situation

R1. Interpret and repair. A learner reads qù with English k and a back u vowel. Identify both problems.

R2. Use it yourself. Write the normal pinyin spelling for archaic variant of 汝女nǚ and to go去qù, then identify the full finals behind jiǔ and shuǐ.

Write your responses before opening the key. Compare meaning as well as form; a different valid answer need not copy the model.