| Question | Answer |
| tones | ā á ǎ à ō ó ǒ ò ē é ě è ī í ǐ ì ū ú ǔ ù ǖ ǘ ǚ ǜ ü Ā Á Ǎ À Ō Ó Ǒ Ò Ē É Ě È |
| What are consonants called? | Initials |
| What are vowels called? | Finals |
| What are the third parts of pronunciation? | Tones |
| How many simple finals are there in Chinese? | 6 |
| What are the simple finals? | a o e i u ǖ |
| What is the prononciation key for the last simple final? | ǖ i______ |
| What are the lengths of prononciation per syllable? | Equally long |
| What do the order of finals symbolize? | From large mouth opening to small |
| What are all Chinese tones based upon? | A support core or resting tone |
| Spelling rules for i | change to y if there is no initial(consonant) |
| Spelling rules for in, ing, o | add y (yin, ying, yo) |
| Spelling rules for u: | add y and drop umlet when no intial (yu, yuan, yue, yun) |
| Spelling rules for u | change to w if no intial |
| Spelling rules for ueng | is written as ong if preceded by an initial (tong) |
| What is used to separate two syllables with connecting vowels? | an apostrophe ( ' ) |
| Prononciation of " Q " | like "ch" in English but teeth touch lower incisors |
| If two third tone syllables are spoken in succession... | the first third tone becomes a second tone sound, this is not done in writing, called a tone sandhi |
| pronounciation of " ou " | begin with open round mouth and slightly close, like "toe" in English |
| How much space in Chinese is taken up by finals? | 95% |
| How many initials are there? | 21 + w and y (u,i) |
| What are the hardest initials to pronounce? | s s as in sun , c = ts, z = beds x = huge, q = church, j = ajar, sh = shinbone, ch = nuture, zh = merger |
| What are the rules for a neutral tone? | First syllables are not neutralized |
| Where do tone marks fall on compound syllables? | They fall according to the order of aperture: first(a, o, e, i, u, u:)last |
| What is the exception to the order of tone marks rule? | The iù because the ù stands for ou |
| Which compound final is longer? | The second |
| Which compound final is emphasized? | The first |
| Which letters do not need a umlet when placed with ü? | j, q, y (beware that pronunciation still has an i sound) |
| How do ua, uan, uang change when no initial is present? | wa, wan, wang |
| How does u change when no initial is present? | wū |
| How do ia, ie, iao, ian, iang change when there is no initial? | ya, ye, yao, yan. yang |
| How does i change when there is no initial? | yi |