A personified yak Chinese teacher that explains pinyin initials and finals with tricky sounds j q x zh ch sh r.

Pinyin Made Simple: Initials, Finals, and Tricky Sounds — Free PDF and Flashcards

Pinyin Made Simple: Initials, Finals, and Tricky Sounds is built for learners who want useful Traditional Chinese vocabulary in a clean reference format instead of a long, fluffy article.

Grab your tea, take a deep breath, and let’s make pinyin feel a lot less mysterious. Scroll to the bottom for the free printable traditional chinese vocabulary list list PDF and the free downloadable printable traditional chinese list flashcards.

Use this list as a starting point, then keep going in the Yak Yacker Traditional Chinese section for more words, phrases, and study-friendly reference pages.

Quick Quiz

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Browse the Full List

WordPinyinTypeMeaningExample
對不起duìbuqǐexpressionsorry對不起
xiǎoadjectivesmall小孩
shānnounmountain山脈
shīcharacterteacher; master老師
hěnadverbvery很多
àicharacterlove; to like愛好
pronounI, me我們
wéncharacterlanguage; writing文化
shìverbto be (am, is, are)是否
yǒuverbhave; there is/are沒有
péngcharacterfriend朋友
shuǐnounwater水果
huǒnounfire火車
shēngcharacterlife; to be born生活
departiclepossessive particle我的
lǎocharacterold; prefix for a respected person老師
characterlanguage語言
謝謝xièxieexpressionthank you謝謝
zhèdeterminer/pronounthis這裡
determiner/pronounthat那裡

Free Traditional Chinese Vocabulary List and Flashcard PDFs to Download

You’ll find the purple vocab-list button for the traditional chinese vocabulary list list and the teal flashcards button for the traditional chinese list flashcards. Both downloads are 100% free with no signup required.