The Rules of Learning Pinyin If you want to read Chinese characters as accurate as a native speaker, you may understand the phonetics of Pinyin first. Today, I'd like to show you some basic regulations of pronouncing. Pinyin is composed of two parts, which are 'Initials' and 'Finals'. However, there are three kinds of finals, Singel finals, Compound finals, Nasal finals. (1) 21 Initials are below: b [p] p [pʰ] m [m] f [f] d [t] t [tʰ] z [ʦ] c [ʦʰ] s [s] n [n] l [l] j [ʨ] q [ʨʰ] x [ɕ] zh [ʈ͡ʂ] ch [ʈ͡ʂʰ] sh [ʂ] r [ʐ/ɻ] g [k] k [kʰ] h [x] (2) 39 Finals are below: Singel finals: ɑ [ɑ] o [ǫ] e [ɤ] ê [ɛ] i [i] u [u] ü [y] er [əɻ/ɐɻ] -i（si,zi ci） [ɿ] -i（zhi chi shi ri） [ʅ] Compound finals: ɑi [aɪ] ei [eɪ] ɑo [ɑʊ] ou [oʊ] iɑ [iɑ] ie [iɛ] uɑ [uɑ] uo [uǫ] üe [yɛ] iɑo [iɑʊ] i(o)u [iəʊ] uɑi [uaɪ] u(e)i [ueɪ] Nasal finals: ɑn [an] en [ən] in [in] ün [yn] iɑn [iɛn] uɑn [uan] üɑn [yɛn] u(e)n [uən] ɑnɡ [ɑŋ] enɡ [ɤŋ] inɡ [iŋ/iəŋ] onɡ [ʊŋ] iɑnɡ [iɑŋ] uɑnɡ [uɑŋ] uenɡ [uɤŋ] ionɡ [yŋ/iʊŋ] Base on above, please keep in mind an important formula: Pinyin = Initial+Singel final/Compound final/Nasal final. For example: n+i=ni (Initial+Singel final) ; 妮（nˉi） 泥(nˊi) 你(nˇi) 逆(nˋi); 妮子 泥巴 你好 逆天 b+ao=bao (Initial+Compound final); 包 (bˉao) 雹(bˊao) 宝(bˇao) 抱(bˋao) 包子 冰雹 宝贝 拥抱 g+uan=guan (Initial+Nasal final); 观(guˉan) 管(guˇan) 冠(guˋan) 观看 管理 冠名 r+ong= rong(Initial+Nasal final); 容(rˊong) 冗 (rˇong) 容易 冗长