How to say gu

gu in its 3 tones, said in a female or a male voice. Tap a tone to hear it.

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

Voice

How to say it

g: Like the k in “skin”: no puff of air. To an English ear it sounds close to the g in “go”.

u: u is the “oo” of “food”, with the lips rounded.

Its tones

gū 孤 lone · gǔ 股 share · gù 顾 to look after. gú isn’t used in standard Mandarin. The pinyin trainer practices telling them apart in real words.

Sounds near it

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

Words with gu

故事gùshistory
照顾zhàoguto take care of
估计gūjìprobably
顾客gùkècustomer
鼓励gǔlìto encourage
姑娘gūnianggirl
故意gùyìdeliberately
古gǔancient
鼓gǔdrum
古代gǔdàiancient times
固定gùdìngfixed
古老gúlǎoancient

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.