What is a final?
In Mandarin Chinese, a final, also known as a vowel, nucleus, or rhyme, is the sound component that follows the initial consonant in a syllable.
It is an essential part of forming words and syllables in the Chinese language.
How many categories of finals are there in Mandarin Chinese?
According to the structure of the final, it can be classified into Simple Finals (a, o, e, i, u, ü) and Compound vowels (ai, ei, ao, …) and nasal vowels (-n, -ng, -r).
How are the finals of Chinese phonetics constructed?
A typical final is composed of three parts: the medial, the main vowel (nucleus), and the final sound (coda).
These finals are combined with initials (consonants) to form syllables in the Chinese language.
The 36 finals can be further categorized into three types based on their structure:
Simple Finals: “a”, “o”, “e”, “i”, “u”, “ü”
Compound Finals: “ai”, “ei”, “ao”, “ou”, “ia”, “ie”, “iao”, “iu”, “ua”, “uo”, “uai”, “uei”
Nasal Finals: “an”, “en”, “ang”, “eng”, “ong”, “ian”, “in”, “iang”, “ing”, “iong”, “uan”, “un”, “uang”, “ueng”, “üan”, “ün”
According to certain rules, all these initials and finals can actually form a total of about 400 syllables.
Note: The variant vowel sounds of “i” that come after “zh,” “ch,” “sh,” and “r,” and “z,” “c,” “s” won’t be counted as a “final” here because they cannot be read alone.
How many finals are there in Mandarin Chinese?
In Mandarin Chinese, there are a total of 36 finals.