PRONUNCIATION MASTERY

SIMPLE FINAL “A”

The simple final “a” is pronounced like the “a” in “car”

COMMON WORDS THAT USE SIMPLE FINAL "A”

We’ve put together this non-exhaustive list of at least one common word for each of the

syllables in mandarin Chinese that use the final “a”. The purpose of this is to expose you to

all of the possible pronunciations in the language, rather than just the ones covered in the

videos. This will do wonders for your pronunciation as you will be more equipped to more

accurately identify and later produce everything you hear without any gaps in your

knowledge.

WORD PINYIN DEFINITION

把 bǎ to grasp
爬 pá to crawl
发 fā to dispatch
大 dà big
打 dǎ to hit
塔 tǎ tower
拿 ná to take
拉 lā to pull
洒 sǎ to spill
尴尬 gāngà awkward
卡 kǎ card
哈哈 hāhā haha
WORDS WITH PROBLEM INITIALS & SIMPLE FINAL “A”
Any word that has a problem initial requires more focus, so when practicing these always

remember to apply the principles you learned in our videos.

Simple final “a” can be combined with problem initials “z”, “c”, “zh”, “ch”, and “sh”.

WORD PINYIN DEFINITION

咋 zǎ how? (colloquial)
擦 cā to polish
眨 zhǎ to blink
差 chà inferior
叉子 chāzi fork
杀 shā to kill
傻 shǎ stupid

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