The finals
The final is everything after the initial: a vowel, a pair of vowels, or a vowel ending in n or ng. Some syllables have no initial at all, only a final.
Single vowels
- a八 bāeight
- o波 bōwave
- e饿 èhungry
- i一 yīone
- u五 wǔfive
- ü鱼 yúfish
Vowel pairs
- ai爱 àito love
- ei北 běinorth
- ao好 hǎogood
- ou口 kǒumouth
- er二 èrtwo
Ending in n or ng
- an看 kànto look
- en门 méndoor
- ang忙 mángbusy
- eng冷 lěngcold
- ong东 dōngeast
Starting with i
- ia家 jiāhome
- ie谢 xièto thank
- iao小 xiǎosmall
- iu六 liùsix
- ian天 tiānday; sky
- in新 xīnnew
- iang想 xiǎngto want; to think
- ing听 tīngto listen
- iong熊 xióngbear
Starting with u
- ua花 huāflower
- uo多 duōmany
- uai快 kuàifast
- ui对 duìcorrect
- uan晚 wǎnlate; evening
- un春 chūnspring
- uang黄 huángyellow
- ueng翁 wēngold man
Starting with ü
- üe学 xuéto study
- üan远 yuǎnfar
- ün云 yúncloud
Spelling rules
- With no initial, i is written y and u is written w: yi, ya, you, yan; wu, wo, wai, wan.
- ü with no initial is written yu: yu, yue, yuan, yun.
- After j, q and x, ü loses its dots: ju, qu, xue. After n and l it keeps them: nǚ, lǜ.
- After an initial, iou, uei and uen are shortened to iu, ui and un: liù, duì, chūn.