Initials in Pinyin, b, p, m, f

Pronouncing the initials can be easy as it is similar to English alphabets. There are a total of 23 initials in the Pinyin syllabus. A word is a form with an initial and final.

 

But there are some cases that a word that can be formed only with final, without an initial.

 

Example:

ài = 爱 = Love

àn = 暗 = Dark

èr = 二 = Two

Only “er” is without any initials, remember not to combine initials with the “er”.

 

Initials
b		p
m		f

 

Here are some guides with English pronunciation on how to pronounce the initials.

Initial	Pronunciation as in English	Character	Meaning	Pinyin
b	Bay	杯	cup	bēi
p	Pop	破	broken	pò
m	Mop	墨	ink	mò
f	Fun	翻	turn	fān

 

 

Tone Drills of the initials, b, p, m, f

Initials
b	bō bó bǒ bò		p	pō pó pǒ pò
m	pò mó mǒ mò		f	fō fó fǒ fò

Not all initials can be combined with any finals. Take a look at the table below. These are the only finals that can combine with b, p, m, and f.

	b	p	m	f
a	ba	pa	ma	fa
o	bo	po	mo	fo
e	-	-	me	-
er	-	-	-	-
ai	bai	pai	mai	-
ei	bei	pei	mei	fei
ao	bao	pao	mao	-
ou	-	pou	mou	fou
an	ban	pan	man	fan
en	ben	pen	men	fen
ang	bang	pang	mang	fang
eng	beng	peng	meng	feng
i	bi	pi	mi	-
iao	biao	piao	miao	-
ie	bie	pie	mie	-
iu	-	-	miu	-
ian	bian	pian	mian	-
in	bin	pin	min	-
ing	bing	ping	ming	-
u	bu	pu	mu	fu