Pinyin chart · jiu
How to say jiu
jiu in its 3 tones, said in a female or a male voice. Tap a tone to hear it.
jiu
Tap a tone to hear it; tap it again to hear it slower.
How to say it
j: The tongue tip rests behind the lower teeth and the front of the tongue presses the hard palate: close to the j in “jeep”, with no puff of air and no rounding of the lips.
iou: Written iu after a consonant (liu, jiu): a short o is said between the i and the u, most clearly in the third and fourth tones.
Its tones
jiū 究 to study · jiǔ 久 long · jiù 就 then. jiú isn’t used in standard Mandarin. The pinyin trainer practices telling them apart in real words.
Spelling
- iou is written iu after a consonant.
Sounds near it
Learners often mix jiu up with these. Listen to them one after the other.
Words with jiu
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.