Mandarin minimal pairs · uo / ou
uo vs ou
15 pairs to hear, from 说 shuō and 收 shōu on. Take the quiz, then tap any pair below to hear both.
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uo starts round and opens: the lips begin as for oo and the mouth opens to an aw, so 说 shuō glides from narrow to wide. ou goes the other way, starting open and closing toward oo, close to English “show” without the w: 收 shōu.
Listen to where the sound ends: uo ends open, ou ends with rounded lips. Pinyin writes uo as plain o after b, p, m and f (波 bō), so there it has no partner.
All 15 pairs
Questions
What is the difference between uo or ou in pinyin?
uo starts round and opens: the lips begin as for oo and the mouth opens to an aw, so 说 shuō glides from narrow to wide.
What is a minimal pair in Mandarin?
Two syllables that differ by one sound and nothing else, such as zhī and zī, or fàn and fàng. Hearing them apart is the first step to saying them apart, and to understanding fast speech.
Practise the tones too
Tone pair chart: all 20 tone pairs, each a word to hear. Pinyin trainer: hear a word and name its tones. Tone practice: say a word and see your pitch over a native speaker’s. Pinyin chart: every syllable in all four tones.
Voices by ElevenLabs, the same two as the app’s word cards.