The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Mandarin Chinese pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
See Mandarin phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Mandarin. Please note that English equivalents given in this page may only represent very approximate sounds to the original pronunciations.
|
|
| Vowels
|
| IPA |
Pinyin |
Bopomofo |
English approximation
|
| साँचा:square bracket openopen front unrounded vowel|a]]साँचा:yesno |
a (a, an) |
ㄚ, ㄢ
|
Somewhat like car
|
| aɪ |
ai |
ㄞ
|
time
|
| साँचा:square bracket openopen back unrounded vowel|ɑ]]साँचा:yesno |
a (ang), e (er) |
ㄤ, ㄦ
|
car
|
| ɑʊ |
ao |
ㄠ
|
how
|
| eɪ |
ei[२] |
ㄟ
|
hey
|
| साँचा:square bracket openopen-mid front unrounded vowel|ɛ]]साँचा:yesno |
e (ye), a (yan, yuan) |
ㄝ,ㄧㄢ , ㄩㄢ
|
yes
|
| साँचा:square bracket openopen-mid front rounded vowel|œ]]साँचा:yesno |
e (yue) |
ㄩㄝ
|
No English equivalent; Rounded [ɛ]
|
| साँचा:square bracket openmid-central vowel|ə]]साँचा:yesno |
e (en[२], eng) |
ㄣ, ㄥ
|
about
|
| साँचा:square bracket openclose-mid back unrounded vowel|ɤ]]साँचा:yesno |
e |
ㄜ
|
Somewhat like hood
|
| साँचा:square bracket openclose front unrounded vowel|i]]साँचा:yesno |
yi/-i (yi, yin, ying) |
ㄧ
|
see
|
| ɨ
|
i (si, zi, ci, shi, zhi, chi, ri) (buzzing)[३] |
ㄭ
|
| oʊ |
ou[२] |
ㄡ
|
hoe
|
| साँचा:square bracket openopen-mid back rounded vowel|ɔ]]साँचा:yesno |
o (wo[४]) |
ㄛ
|
war
|
| साँचा:square bracket openclose back rounded vowel|u]]साँचा:yesno |
wu/-u |
ㄨ
|
woo
|
| साँचा:square bracket opennear-close near-back vowel|ʊ]]साँचा:yesno |
o (ong) |
ㄨㄥ
|
hood
|
| साँचा:square bracket openclose front rounded vowel|y]]साँचा:yesno |
yu/-ü[१] (yu, yun) |
ㄩ
|
Somewhat like cute
|
| Nasal[५]
|
| ɑ̃
|
ang (angr) |
|
No English equivalent; nasal [ɑ]
|
| ə̃
|
eng (engr) |
|
No English equivalent; nasal [ə]
|
| ʊ̃
|
ong (ongr) |
|
No English equivalent. Nasal [ʊ]
|
| IPA
|
Pinyin
|
Description
|
| Tones
|
| ǎ ɤ̌
|
á, é
|
mid rising: ˧˥
|
| â ɤ̂
|
à, è
|
high falling: ˥˩
|
| á ɤ́
|
ā, ē
|
high: ˥
|
| à, ɤ̀
|
ǎ, ě
|
medially, low: ˩
initially, mid falling: ˧˩
finally, low rising: ˩˧
in isolation, dipping: ˧˩˧
|
| a, ɤ
|
a, e
|
"toneless":
low after a falling tone [â];
mid after all other tones
|
|
Notes
- ↑ अ आ ü ([y], [ɥ]) is spelled u after j, q, x as [u], [w] cannot occur after these consonants.
- ↑ अ आ इ wei, you, wen are spelled ui, iu, un respectively in pinyin, but pronounced identically, when preceded by a consonant.
- ↑ Slightly "buzzing" vowels. In shi, zhi, chi, ri, the vowel is also retracted: [ɨ˞], rather like the ir in US English bird. These are sometimes transcribed as syllabic fricatives ([z̩], [ʐ̩]), but there is little frication.
- ↑ uo is spelled o when preceded by b, p, m or f; however, it is pronounced similarly.
- ↑ Only occurs in erhua and generally not considered part of the main vowel inventory.