Learn Initials: z, c, s, y, w in Ten Minutes | Chinese Pinyin Lesson 11

Initials part 6: Learn z, c, s, y, w in Ten Minutes | Chinese Pinyin Lesson 11 Initials are called “声母“ in simplified Chinese (pinyin: shēngmǔ). There are 21 initials excluding y and w. The conventional order is: b, p, m, f; d, t, ,n, l; g, k, h; j, q, x; zh, ch, sh, r; z, c, s The letters “y“ and “w“ are not included in the table of initials in the official pinyin system. They are an orthographic convention for “i“, “u“ and “ü“ when no initial is present. When “i“, “u“ or “ü“ are finals and no initial is present, they are spelled “yi“, “wu“, and “yu“, respectively. The letters “y“ and “w“ are called “half vowels“ in Chinese. To make it simple and easier to use, we categorize them as initials here. Last lesson, we learned initials “zh“, “ch“, “sh“, “r“