16 Finals with a medial ü

This lesson introduces new finals that begin with the letter ü. These include üe, üan, and ün. In these finals, the letter ü represents a transition sound between the initial and the main vowel or dipthong in the final.

Please review the following chart. In Lesson 6, you learned about the vowel ü. In that lesson, you learned that n and l can be followed by either u or ü. In subsequent lessons, you learned that j, q, and x can be followed by ü but never by u. Therefore, the designers of the Pinyin system decided to omit the umlaut (the two dots) in syllables with j, q, and x followed by ü. These syllables, such as jun and quan are spelled with the letter u but, in these cases, the u stands for ü.

Remember that finals starting with “ü” can only be used after n, l, j, q, and x and that the umlaut (two dots) is only used after n and l.

Now listen to some examples of syllables formed with these finals.

Listening Quiz

Listen to the audio and choose the Pinyin equivalent for the syllable you hear.

Dictation Exercise

Check yourself: Listen to the following syllables. Write down the Pinyin, including the tone. Then click below to check your answers.