(Compound) Front Nasal Finals: an, en, in, un, ün Flashcards
The nasal final is a final that the simple finals composed with the nasal consonant -n or -ng. The finals ending with -n are called the front nasal final, and the finals ending with -ng is called the back nasal final. Let’s start with the front nasal finals first. First pronounce the single vowel, a, e, i, u or ü, then move your tongue to the back of the upper teeth to make the “n” sound. (5 cards)
an
like “an” in “land”
similar to “an” in the English “fan”
lǎn 懒 adj. lazy
en
like “en” in “stolen”
similar to “en” in the English “end”
mén 门 n. door
in
like “in”
“yin”
If there is no initial consonant before i, i is written as a semi-vowel, y. Thus ia, ie, iao, iu, ian, iang become ya, ye, yao, you (note that the o cannot be omitted here: iu = iou), yan, yang,. Before in and ing, add y, e.g., yin and ying.
xīn 心 n. heart
un
like “oon” in “moon”
“wen”
The main vowel e is omitted in un (un = uen)
but you still pronounce the vowel when speaking.
u becomes w if not preceded by an initial.
wa, wai, wan, wang, wei, wen, weng, wo.
kùn 困 adj. sleepy
ün
English, like “u” in “lune”, plus “n” in “stolen”
combine “ü” and “n”
If there is no initial consonant before the ü, add a y and drop the umlaut: yu, yuan, yue, yun
yún 云 n. cloud
