 
        Initials in Pinyin
j, q and x
Initials in Pinyin, j, q, x
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.
The initial j, q, and x are trickier to pronounce for beginners. These initials sound similar.
Rules
Finals that can be paired:
- Single final – i, ü
- Compound and Nasal final starts with – i, ü
- When we type j, q, x with “ü”, the “ü“ is replaced with normal “u”.
| Initials | |||
| j | q | ||
| x | 
 | 
 | |
Here are some guides with English pronunciation on how to pronounce the initials.
| Initial | Pronunciation as in English | Character | Meaning | Pinyin | |
| j | Gin | 鸡 | Chicken | jī | |
| q | Cheese | 七 | Seven | qī | |
| x | Shift | 洗 | Wash | xǐ | |
Tone Drills of the initials, j, q, x
| Initials | |||||
| j | jī jí jǐ jì | q | qī qí qǐ qì | ||
| x | xī xí xǐ xì | ||||
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 j, q, and x.
| 
 | j | q | x | 
| i | ji | qi | xi | 
| ia | jia | qia | xia | 
| iao | jiao | qiao | xiao | 
| ie | jie | qie | xie | 
| iu | jiu | qiu | xiu | 
| in | jin | qin | xin | 
| iang | jiang | qiang | xiang | 
| ing | jing | qing |  | 
| iong | jiong | qiong | xiong | 
| ü | jü | qü | xü | 
| üe | jüe | qüe | xüe | 
| üan | jüan | qüan | xüan | 
| ün | jün | qün | xün |