The six vowels in Pinyin pronunciation are listed in the following slide show. They will be read in the first tone, which sounds like a sustained sung note. Please listen and repeat after me.

ā

It sounds like the noise you might make when your doctor is examining the inside of your mouth. Open your mouth wide and say: “aah”.

ōPush your lips forward into a small circle, with your tongue at the bottom of your mouth, leaving a hollow space above it. Say: “o”. Your lips should make the shape they take when you say the English word “law”.

ēMake a sound as if you have seen something really disgusting: “ergh”. When e is used with other vowels it can also be pronounced “ê” which is similar to “e” in the English word “bed”.

īPull your lips slightly back and push your tongue up towards the hard palate without touching it. It is similar to the “ea” sound in the English word “squeak”.

ū Push your lips forward and make a narrow gap through which your breath can vibrate. Your lips should take the shape they make when you say the word “fool”.

ǖ It is similar to the umlaut “ü” in German or the French “u”. Say “ee” through tightly pursed lips (form the shape they make when you say the “sh” of the English word fish).

If you read the vowels in the following order, you will notice that the gap between your lips will gradually get narrower.

ā ō ē ī ū ǖ

When you have learnt how to pronounce these vowels individually, you can try to read out some combined vowels. I will read out the following groups of vowels in the first tone.

āo

āi

uā NB: if a word begins

with u the written form is w, so ua would be written wa but still pronounced ua.

iā NB: if a word begins

with i the written form is y, so ia would be written ya but still pronounced ia.

There are some irregular features in Pinyin pronunciation. When the vowel ē comes before or after the vowels ī and ǖ, it should be pronounced “e” as in “bed”. Let's read the following 3 examples in the first tone.

ēi

iē NB: if a word begins

with i the written form is y, so ie would be written ye but still pronounced ie.

üēNB: if a word begins with ü the written form is y, so üe would be written yue but still pronounced üe.

When o is followed by u, the pronunciation of o is similar to the English letter "o". Listen and repeat after me.

ōu

I am going to read two groups of combined vowels that are written in an abbreviated form. Please listen and repeat carefully after me.

iū NB: if a word begins

with i the written form is y, so the Pinyin for iu would be written “you”.

uī NB: if a word begins

with u the written form is w, so ui would be written wei.