pronouncekit

FINAL

ia ie iao iu ian in iang ing iong: finals that start with i

Learn the i family: jiā, xiè, xiǎo, liù, tiān, xīn, xiǎng, míng and xióng, and how they are spelled with y on their own.

ia ie iao iu ian in iang ing iong

Mouth & tongue

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Vocal folds: vibrating

TongueTeethUvula

Simplified human pronunciation. The small uvula hangs from the palate; it is not the vocal folds. The wave indicates voicing.

Sound to demonstrate
Tone

High and level, around 55 on the five-level pitch scale.

Voice settings

The mouth starts slightly open. Movement is slowed for observation; the synthetic sound plays once at its original speed. Pause holds the current mouth shape; reset returns to the relaxed position. The panda is a symbolic teaching aid for human pronunciation, not animal anatomy. A simplified teaching model, not a measured or anatomically validated simulation. It shows the soft palate lowering for nasal sounds, but not airflow. Single syllables use eSpeak NG, a synthetic voice on your device. Its pitch range is narrower than natural speech, so use the tone diagrams and word buttons as well. Words and sentences use a voice from your browser or device when one is available. No native recordings are bundled.

Words to practice

Sentence to practice

Listen and compare

Keep the tense i in both: end xīn at the ridge and xīng at the soft palate, then compare the vowels of tiān and tīng.

Pinyin here shows dictionary tones. Spoken tones change in some contexts, such as nǐ hǎo; see the lessons on tone changes.

What you are learning

Most of these finals start with a quick i glide into a main vowel; in in and ing, i is itself the main vowel. Written alone they begin with y: ya, ye, yao, you, yan, yin, yang, ying and yong.

What your mouth is doing

The tongue starts high and forward, then moves to the next target. In ian the a is raised to something close to the e of bed, and in iu a mid vowel sits between the i and the u.

Compared with English

English yes and yard start in a similar way, and English yacht is near yā. But ian is not “ee-an”: think “yen”. And in has a short, tense i rather than the vowel in English win.

Build the sound, step by step

  1. Say yā and yě, making the first part quick.
  2. Say tiān with an e-like vowel, not an open a.
  3. Compare xīn and xīng: both keep the same tense i.

What to watch for

  • Saying “tee-an” with an open a is very common. Aim for “tyen”.
  • Reading iu as “ee-oo” leaves out the middle vowel in slow speech, especially on third and fourth tones.

Related lessons

Keep practicing

References & editorial notes

PronounceKit wrote this lesson as practical guidance for English speakers, based on the references below. The comparisons are editorial teaching suggestions. It describes common Mainland Standard Mandarin patterns, not every accent or regional variety, and it has not been independently reviewed by a pronunciation specialist or Mandarin teacher.

Published 5 November 2026