Pinyin chart · shai
How to say shai
shai in its 3 tones, said in a female or a male voice. Tap a tone to hear it.
shai
Tap a tone to hear it; tap it again to hear it slower.
Voice
How to say it
sh: Like English sh, with the tongue tip curled back a little further.
ai: ai is close to the “eye” of English.
Its tones
shāi 筛 to sift · shǎi 色 color · shài 晒 to dry in the sun. shái isn’t used in standard Mandarin. The pinyin trainer practices telling them apart in real words.
Sounds near it
Learners often mix shai up with these. Listen to them one after the other.
Words with shai
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.