How to pronounce the initials and finals in Pinyin?

Initials, Finals and Whole-Syllables

How to pronounce the initials and finals in Pinyin?
Chinese syllables consist of initials and finals, which are made up of 26 letters, sometimes only one and occasionally a few.

There are 26 letters in Chinese Pinyin that are important: o, e, I u, b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, k, h, j, q, x, z, c, s, r, y, w. Moreover, there are some finals that already is a complete syllable which is called the Whole-Syllables.

It's easy to learn how to pronounce it as they are similar to English pronunciation. But there is one tricky final which you can find out later!

Let’s take a look at the tables below.
INITIAL
b   p   m   f  
d   t   n   l  
g   k   h   j  
q   x   zh   ch  
sh   r   z   c  
s   y   w    

FINAL
a   o   e   i  
u   ü   ai   ei  
ui   ao   ou   iu  
ie   üe   er   an  
en   in   un   ün  
ang   eng   ing   ong  

Let's take a look and listen to the Whole-Syllable. Some of the whole-syllable has similar pronunciation with the Initial or Final.
WHOLE SYLLABLE
zhi  chi   shi   ri  
zi   ci   si   wu  
yi   yü   ye   yüe  
yuan   yin   yün   ying  

Although pinyin employs the same letters as English words, the sounds represented by those letters are Mandarin Chinese. As a result, some letters may not deliver the expected sounds. It is critical that you recognize and respond to how those letters of pinyin are pronounced.