A. CONCEPTS

1. Standard of Modern Chinese:
a) Beijing dialect as the standard pronunciation
b) Northern dialect ( mandarin ) as the basic dialect
c) Model articles written in vernacular modern Chinese as the grammar regulations

2. Pinyin ( 拼音) — A phonetic system for Chinese pronunciation

3. Vowel ( 元音 yuányīn) — A sound made by the through passage of breath, forming the central part of a syllable.

e.g. [a:] park, [i:] we, [u:] you

Consonant (辅音fǔyīn ) — A sound produced by obstructions from the speech organs , playing assistant roles in some syllables.
e.g. [p], [k] park, [m] me, [v], [l] vowel

5. Initials（声母 shēngmǔ ）— consonants at the beginning of a Chinese syllable .
e.g. na（n）, ta ( t ), pan ( h ), lang ( l )

6. Finals ( 韵母 yùnmǔ ) — vowels or nasal consonants ”n, ng”( joined with vowels) placed after initials .
e.g. ba (a ) , mo (o), nan( an ) , lang (ang)

a) Simple Final : a final made up of a single vowel sound
e.g. ta (a), po (o)
b) Compound Final : finals combined with two or more vowels
e.g. lao (ao),
c) Nasals : finals ended by nasal consonants
e.g. fan (n), pang (ng)

7. Form of a Chinese Syllable:
A Chinese syllable must be formed by a final vowel or a final initiated by an initial .

e.g. a, ba, pan

8．Tones: There are four basic tones in Chinese speech. They are:
1st tone (high flat tone),
2nd tone (rising tone)
3rd tone (winding tone),
4th tone (falling tone)
e.g. ā á ǎ à

B. Pronunciations:

SoundBoard
Initials: b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l
Finals: a, o, e, i

C. Practice of combinations with the four tones:

SoundBoard
ba, bo, bi, pa, po, pi, ma, mo , me, mi, fa, fo,
da, de, di, ta, te, ti, na ne , ni, la, lo, le, li

D. Different tones with the same syllables have different meanings.

SoundBoard
For example:
mā 妈 (mother), má 麻 (numb), mǎ 马 (horse), mà 骂 (curse)

pō 坡 (hill), pó 婆 (old woman), pǒ 颇 (rather), pò 迫（urgent）

gē 哥 (elder brother), gé 格 (case), gě 舸 (boat), gè 个 (individual)

bī 逼 (force), bí 鼻 (nose), bǐ 比 (compare), bì 壁 (wall)