Compound Finals

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複韻母 复韵母 · Compound Finals — OneDotDot Chinese
OneDotDot Chinese · Pronunciation

复韵母Compound Finals

Once you know the six simple finals, this part is mostly assembly: glide from one vowel into the next, or land a nasal tail on it. Six sets, no new sounds to learn from scratch.

6 sets

Not solid yet on a · o · i · u · ü · e? Warm up with Simple Finals first — everything here just combines those.

Hanyu Pinyin · a 5-part foundation
01 Initials — Part 1 b p m f · d t n l · g k h 02 Initials — Part 2 j q x · zh ch sh r · z c s 03 Simple Finals a · o · i · u · ü · e 04 Compound Finals ai·ei·ao·ou · an·eng·ong, +more — you are here 05 Spelling Rules spacing · tones · y/w/yu · erhua

Mastering the 6 sets

Each set builds on the simple finals you already know. Tap any set to jump straight to it.

ai · ei · ao · ou an · en · ang · eng · ong ia · iao · ie · iu · ian · in · iang · ing · iong ua · uo · uai · ui · uan · un · uang üe · üan · ün er

ai · ei · ao · ou

glide straight from the first vowel into the second

ai ei ao ou
hear the set
tai·hei·hao·tou·gao·fei
zao·chai·dao·lou·shao·bai

an · en · ang · eng · ong

a vowel with a nasal tail — “n” or “ng”

an en ang eng ong
hear the set
tan·hen·hang·sheng·gong·ben
gang·feng·gen·ken·kong·fan

ia · iao · ie · iu · ian · in · iang · ing · iong

built on “i” — nine finals, one starting shape

ia iao ie iu ian in iang ing iong
  • With no initial in front, “i” is spelled “y” instead.
  • “iu” is short for “iou” — the middle “o” is dropped from the spelling, though a trace of it stays in the sound.
hear the set
xia·qiao·jie·qiu·lian·yin
ying·xiang·xiong·xiu·jiao·yang

ua · uo · uai · ui · uan · un · uang

built on “u” — seven finals, one starting shape

ua uo uai ui uan un uang
  • With no initial in front, “u” is spelled “w” instead.
  • “ui” is short for “uei” — the middle “e” is dropped from the spelling.
  • “un” is short for “uen” — the middle “e” is dropped from the spelling.
hear the set
kua·duo·guai·hui·shuo·sui
tuan·yun·tui·dun·chuan·shuang

üe · üan · ün

built on “ü” — the smallest set

üe üan ün
  • With no initial in front, it’s spelled “yu” instead.
  • Combined with j, q, or x, the two dots on “ü” disappear — the sound doesn’t change, the spelling just simplifies.
hear the set
xuan·juan·jun·yue·jue·que

er

also the erhua suffix — “-r” tacked onto a whole syllable

er
hear er
huar·changger·xiaoniaor·yidianr·xiaowar·fanguanr

Listening check — 9 questions

Every clip is the site’s own recording. Press play, then pick which set you heard — no text hints.

01 Which set did you just hear?

02 Which set did you just hear?

03 Which set did you just hear?

04 Which set did you just hear?

05 Which set did you just hear?

06 Which set did you just hear?

07 This string of example syllables belongs to which set?

08 This string of example syllables belongs to which set?

09 This string of example syllables belongs to which set?

Do you like it? 🙂