Learn zhuyin

ㄓ

This sound does not exist in English.

Sounds kind of like "j" in "jerk", but voiceless and with the tongue further back in the mouth.

ㄓ can appear in a syllable by itself with an implicit vowel. The vowel is pronounced with the mouth in the same position as ㄓ.

ㄓㄉㄠˋ

to know

知道

ㄓㄠˋㄆㄧㄢˋ

photograph

照片

IPA: [ʈ͡ʂ]

ㄔ

This sound does not exist in English.

Sounds kind of like "ch" in "chirp", but with the tongue further back in the mouth.

ㄔ can appear in a syllable by itself with an implicit vowel. The vowel is pronounced with the mouth in the same position as ㄔ.

ㄔ

to eat

吃

ㄔㄨㄑㄩˋ

to go out

出去

IPA: [t͡ɕʰ]

ㄕ

This sound does not exist in English.

Sounds kind of like "sh" in "Shrek", but with the tongue further back in the mouth.

ㄕ can appear in a syllable by itself with an implicit vowel. The vowel is pronounced with the mouth in the same position as ㄕ.

ㄕˊ

ten

十

ㄕㄥㄏㄨㄛˊ

life

生活

IPA: [ʂ]

ㄖ

This sound does not exist in English.

Sounds kind of like "sur" in "pleasure", but with the tongue further back in the mouth. Depending on the speaker, this sound may or may not sound buzzy.

ㄖ can appear in a syllable by itself with an implicit vowel. Rhymes with ㄓ, ㄔ, and ㄕ.

ㄖˋ

sun

日

ㄖㄣˊ

person

人

IPA: [ɻ ~ ʐ]

Single-syllable audio courtesy of the AllSet Learning Chinese Pronunciation Wiki, used with permission.

HSK word audio courtesy of Audio-cmn. (CC BY-SA 3.0)