Mandarin Chinese Initials and Finals

In speech, Chinese words are created using just 21 beginning sounds called initials, and 37 ending sounds called finals. Initials and finals, of course, combine to create the basic sounds of Chinese.

For example, consider Beijing:

• bei: b is an initial, and ei is a final.
• jing: j is an initial, and ing is a final.

Bear in mind, however, that not all combinations of initials and finals are possible. As well, some finals may stand alone without an initial, such as an and ai. In many of these cases, pinyin rules will add "placeholder" initial consonants, so that "un" becomes "yun," and "u" becomes "wu." Strictly speaking, however, "y" and "w" are not initials.

If you don't have time for the complete tables of Mandarin initials and finals right now, the following table gives you some examples using just six of each.