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Mandarin Chinese Initial and Finals: Pinyin Table 1

This is the first of four tables illustrating which pairings of initials and finals do occur in Mandarin Chinese and, by omission, which do not.

The initial b, for instance, may be paired with a, but not with e, since ba is a sound in Mandarin Chinese, while be is not.

By the way, don't let the great number of sounds you see represented here alarm you. The majority of these are seldom used.

Table 1: Chinese initials (left) and finals a through ong (top). 

a o e -i* er ai ei ao ou an en ang eng ong
b ba bo       bai bei bao   ban ben bang beng  
p pa po       pai pei poa pou pan pen pang peng  
m ma mo me     mai mei mao mou man men mang meng  
f fa fo         fei   fou fan fen fang feng  
d da   de     dai dei dao dou dan den dang deng dong
t ta   te     tai   tao tou tan   tang teng tong
n na   ne     nai nei   nou nan nen nang neng nong
l la   le     lai lei nao lou lan   lang leng long
z za ze zi   zai zei zao zou zan zen zang zeng zong
c ca ce ci   cai   cao cou can cen cang ceng cong
s sa se si   sai   sao sou san sen sang seng song
zh zha zhe zhi   zhai zhei zhao zou zan zen zhang zheng zhong
ch cha che chi   chai   chao chou chan chen chang cheng chong
sh sha   she shi   shai shei shao shou shan shen shang sheng  
r     re ri       rao rou ran ren rang reng rong
j                            
q                            
x                            
g ga   ge     gai gei gao gou gan gen gang geng gong
k ka   ke     kai kei kao kou kan ken kang keng kong
h ha   he     hai hei hao hou han hen hang heng hong
  a o e   er ai ei ao ou an en ang eng  

NOTE
Note that the bottom row without initials signifies Chinese sounds consisting of finals only without preceding initial consonants. Also, * the final -i should not be confused with i appearing in Table 2. These two finals are pronounced differently and match with different initials.


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