Pinyin chart · de
How to say de
de in its 2 tones, said in a female or a male voice. Tap a tone to hear it.
de
Tap a tone to hear it; tap it again to hear it slower.
How to say it
d: Like the t in “stop”: no puff of air. To an English ear it sounds close to d.
e: e on its own is not the e in “bed”: it is like the “uh” in “duh” said with the lips spread and the tongue pulled back.
Its tones
dē 嘚 clip-clop · dé 德 virtue. dě and dè aren’t used in standard Mandarin. The pinyin trainer practices telling them apart in real words.
Sounds near it
Learners often mix de up with these. Listen to them one after the other.
Words with de
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.