The letter “e” in pinyin

1. The letter e sounds like “uh.”
      example: e means “hungry."

2. The word “de” sounds like “duh.”  Please read:
     de te ne le ge ke he zhe che she ce ze
     Example: the word “he” means “drink.”
          “he cha” means “drink tea.”

3. The word “deng” sounds like “dung.” Please read:
     beng peng meng feng deng teng neng leng geng keng heng zheng cheng sheng
     Example: the word “deng” means “light-bulb.”

4. The word “hen”is pronounced “hun.”
      Examples: “hen” means “very.”
      “Hen hao” means “very good.”
      “Hen e” means “very hungry.”
      The word “en” (pronounced “un”) means “grace.”

5. But in the following words, the “en” rhymes with “yen.”   Please read:
     ben pen men fen gen ken zhen chen shen yen

6. Example: the word “gen” means “with.”
     “fan gen cha” means “rice with tea.”

7. When e comes after i, the result sounds like “yet” without the t.  Please read:
     bie (sounds like bee-yeh), pie, mie, die (dee-yeh), tie, nie, lie, jie, qie, xie, ye (ee-yeh).
     Example: “fan qie” means “tomato.”

Note. E is spelled as “o” in the Wade-Giles system. So in older maps you will see a Chinese province spelled “Hopeh.” In newer maps, using the pinyin system, this same province is spelled “Hebei.”

Combinations, like "he cha" and "hen hao" are not meant to be written in your dictionary, but rather please begin a separate sheet of paper for these, and title it "combinations."

Each day before you continue with these lessons, read aloud all the entries you have made up to that point, while covering up the meanings on the right side of the pages.

Best wishes!

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