pinyin u

mayalarara
 April 21, 2008, 06:58 PM posted in General Discussion

Now I am aware that the following is a real newbie question, but I wanted to ask it anyway, taking the risk of sound incredibly ignorant.

Is there an actual rule* for the pronunciation of a pinyin-U, i.e. in which cases it is pronunced like "oo", and when it resembles an "ü"? I usually get it right, but it seems pretty random to me.

*I get the impression that regarding Mandarin, there is either a straightforward forehead-smacking answer or a terribly complicated explanation. I do hope it is the former in this case.

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mayalarara
 April 21, 2008, 07:17 PM

And continuing with the Chinese-for-Dummies-questions - in the following sentence, which function do 本次 and 大 约fulfill? Is there another way to express the same idea? "本 次 航 程 大 约 需 要 一 个 小 时 。"

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henning
 April 21, 2008, 07:19 PM

mayalarara, it is relatively straight-forward: "u" automatically turns to "ü" after "j", "q", and "x". Also "yu" is used for the pure "ü" You should check out the pronounciation guide (under "Lessons" in the menu on the bottom of this page), Sections 15 and 16: http://chinesepod.com/pronunciation/15 http://chinesepod.com/pronunciation/16

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henning
 April 21, 2008, 07:21 PM

本 is the the formal brother of 这 (same meaning). 大约 is "approximately". So this time, the flight takes about an hour.

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mayalarara
 April 22, 2008, 05:49 PM

Thank you!