Sounds similar to "b" as in "boy", but voiceless. Strictly speaking, it is more like the unaspirated "p" in words like "spoon".

ㄅㄧˇ

pen

ㄅㄚˋㄅㄚ˙

dad

爸爸

IPA: [p]

Sounds like "p" as in "poke".

ㄆㄚˊ

to climb

ㄆㄧㄆㄧㄥˊ

to criticise

批评

IPA: []

Sounds like "m" as in "mother".

ㄇㄚㄇㄚ˙

mother

妈妈

ㄇㄠ

cat

IPA: [m]

Sounds like "a" as in "palm".

ㄧㄚˊ

tooth

ㄧˊ

aunt

阿姨

IPA: [a]

Sounds like "ee" as in "bee" or "y" as in "yeast".

one

ㄧㄚ

duck

IPA: [i]



Single-syllable audio courtesy of the AllSet Learning Chinese Pronunciation Wiki, used with permission.

HSK word audio courtesy of Audio-cmn. (CC BY-SA 3.0)