Pinyin chart · cou

How to say cou

cou in its 1 tone, said in a female or a male voice. Tap a tone to hear it.

cou

Tap a tone to hear it; tap it again to hear it slower.

Voice

How to say it

c: Like the ts in “cats”, with a strong puff of air. It is never a k or an s sound.

ou: ou is close to the “oh” of “go”.

Its tones

còu 凑 to gather together. cōu and cóu and cǒu aren’t used in standard Mandarin. The pinyin trainer practices telling them apart in real words.

Sounds near it

Learners often mix cou up with these. Listen to them one after the other.

Words with cou

The voices are generated speech (ElevenLabs), the same two the app’s word cards use, each tone said as one real word. The words are from the official HSK list (the exam’s 2025 syllabus), easiest first. Every syllable is on the pinyin chart.