YAO

The initial 'y' is spoken like the initial 'i' in 'India', followed by a 'y' as in 'yes', when it comes before the vowel 'e' or 'a' (but not 'ao' and not 'ang'). It is spoken like the initial 'y' in 'yes', when it comes before the vowel 'o' and 'u', before the double vovels 'ao', 'ou', and 'ue', and before 'ang'. When 'y' comes before the vowel 'i', the combination 'yi' is spoken as just one vowel, the 'i' in 'India', regardless of what follows the 'yi'. After the initial 'y', an 'u' is always spoken like the German umlaut 'ue'. When 'e' follows 'yu', a German umlaut 'ue' is spoken, and after that, a 'e' as in 'yes'.

When just the vowel 'a' follows an initial 'y' the 'a' is spoken like the 'a' in 'bar'. However, when a 'n' follows 'ya', the 'a' is spoken like the 'e' in 'Ben'.

But when a 'g' follows the 'yan', forming 'yang', the pronunciation of the 'a' reverts back to that of 'a' in 'bar'.

So, Pinyin looks so easy, but can be quite tricky.

While speaking the initial 'y' like the vowel 'i', followed by a slight 'y', instead just the consonant 'y' may seem to be an additional exception that must be learned and makes Chinese again more difficult, it makes it in fact easier to speak the tones correctly. The reason for this assessment is that for dual vowels, one just has to remember stress, not tone, and the tones will come out quite well. In the first tone, the two vowels in the 'iye' sound combination are pronounced with equal stress. In the second tone, there is a strong stress on the second vowel. In the third tone, the stress is equal, but before a first, second, and fourth tone, only half a third tone is spoken, and then, the stress is on the first syllable. And in the fourth tone, there is a strong stress on the first syllable.

yao(1)

yao(2)

yao(3)

咬 = to bite

yao(4)

In the pronunciation of the fourth tone of Chinese words with an initial consonant and a double vowel, it is important to put some stress on the first of the two vowels.

要 = want, will, important

要 is added before verbs to indicate future tense

我要丢北京. = Wo(3) yao(4) qu(4) Bei(3)jing(1) = I will go to Beijing.

重要 = zhong(4) yao(4) = important (this is the common expression for 'important', with both 'zhong' and 'yao' having the secondary meaning of 'important'; the primary meaning of 重 is 'heavy'.

Please note the other comon zhong yao below, which is spoken only slightly different.

药 = medicine, drug

中药 = zhong(1) yao(4) = chinese traditional medicine

钥 = key

(a combination of the metal radical 钅and the moon character 月)

Common two-character form:

钥匙 = yao(4)shi(-)