Chinese Vowel Contrast Drills: ü, -n/-ng, and Compound Vowels

Finals get harder to fix after you have learned the words. Here you line up only two similar sounds and set the mouth position before you listen. This is not memorising meaning; it is making a different sound with a different action.

Drill 1: u and ü

Step	u	ü
Tongue	raise the back	keep it forward, as for i
Lips	round and push forward	round and push forward too
Practice words	路 (lù, “road”)	绿 (lǜ, “green”), 女 (nǚ, “woman”)

Use a mirror and first make the i tongue silently. Without pulling the tongue back, round only the lips to move to ü. Only when you go back to u do you raise the back of the tongue. Alternate 路 (lù) and 绿 (lǜ), and check on the recording that they do not both sound like one “oo.”

Drill 2: -n and -ng

Contrast	How the mouth ends	Practice words
an/ang	stop with the tongue tip / release to the back	安 (ān, “peace”) / 肮 (āng, “dirty”)
en/eng	close in front / resonate at the back	真 (zhēn, “true”) / 争 (zhēng, “to compete”)
in/ing	stop with the tongue tip / resonate at the back	新 (xīn, “new”) / 星 (xīng, “star”)

The key is not to snap -ng shut. Leave the final vowel a moment and finish without the tongue tip touching the ridge. After you listen, answer only “closed in front, or released to the back?” before you look at the characters.

Drill 3: do not stop compound vowels midway

The ao in 好 (hǎo, “good”), the ui in 对 (duì, “correct”), and the iu in 六 (liù, “six”) are not two vowels placed side by side — they are one movement from the first position to the next. Do not cut them into “hǎ-o” or “du-i”; glide slowly, then return to normal speed.

A five-minute log

Pick one contrast for today: listen, say it three times alternating, record the last one, and note the difference in one line. Example log: “I close -ng with the tongue tip.” The next day, before adding a new contrast, replay the same pair once. Check the full picture of finals back in finals (vowels).