Pinyin Spelling: Letters Do Not Equal English Sounds

Pinyin represents Mandarin pronunciation with spelling conventions of its own.

Three conventions to notice#

• After j, q and x, the sound represented elsewhere by ü is written u.
• With no consonant initial, i, u and ü can be written yi, wu and yu.
• After an initial, iou, uei and uen are shortened in spelling to iu, ui and un.

Suggested practice#

Compare jù with lǜ in a pronunciation reference. Notice the spelling before trying to generalize from the letter u alone.

Reference#

Pronunciation reference. The practice instructions here are newly written. Recordings, charts and illustrations from the reference are not reproduced.