ㄐ
Sounds kind of like "j" in English "jeep", but with the tip of the tongue behind the lower teeth.
ㄐㄧㄚ
home
家
ㄐㄩˊㄗ˙
tangerine
橘子
ㄑ
Sounds kind of like "ch" in English "cheap", but with the tip of the tongue behind the lower teeth.
ㄑㄧㄢˊ
money
钱
ㄑㄩˋ
to go
去
ㄒ
Sounds kind of like "sh" in English "sheep", but with the tip of the tongue behind the lower teeth.
ㄒㄧㄠˇ
small
小
ㄧㄝˇㄒㄩˇ
perhaps
也许
ㄗ
Sounds kind of like "ds" in "bids", but voiceless.
ㄗˋㄐㄧˇ
oneself
自己
ㄗㄞˋㄐㄧㄢˋ
goodbye
再见
ㄘ
Sounds kind of like "ts" in "cats".
ㄘˊ
word
词
ㄘㄜˋㄙㄨㄛˇ
bathroom
厕所
ㄙ
Sounds like "s" in "sick".
ㄙˋ
four
四
ㄙㄢ
three
三
ㄓ
Sounds kind of like "j" in "jerk", but voiceless and with the tongue further back in the mouth.
ㄓㄉㄠˋ
to know
知道
ㄓㄠˋㄆㄧㄢˋ
photograph
照片
ㄔ
Sounds kind of like "ch" in "chirp", but with the tongue further back in the mouth.
ㄔ
to eat
吃
ㄔㄨㄑㄩˋ
to go out
出去
ㄕ
Sounds kind of like "sh" in "Shrek", but with the tongue further back in the mouth.
ㄕˊ
ten
十
ㄕㄥㄏㄨㄛˊ
life
生活
ㄩ
Sounds like "ee" as in "bee" but with the lips rounded like "u" as in "rune". Same as "u" in French "tu" or ü in German "über".
ㄋㄩˇ
female
女
ㄈㄚˇㄌㄩˋ
law
法律
ㄩㄢˇ
far
远
ㄧㄣㄩㄝˋ
music
音乐
ㄩㄥㄅㄠˋ
to hug
拥抱
ㄢ
Sounds like "a" as in "palm" + "n" as in "no".
ㄋㄢˊ
difficult
难
ㄋㄧㄢˊ
year
年
ㄣ
Sounds similar to "en" as in "often" or "un" as in "sun", but slightly different.
ㄇㄣˊ
door
门
ㄇㄧㄢˋㄈㄣˇ
flour
面粉
ㄤ
Sounds like "ong" as in "song".
ㄌㄤˊ
wolf
狼
ㄆㄧㄠˋㄌㄧㄤ˙
pretty
漂亮
ㄥ
Sounds similar to "ung" as in "lung", but slightly different.
ㄉㄥˇ
wait
等
ㄆㄥˊㄧㄡ˙
friend
朋友
ㄉㄨㄥˋㄨˋ
animal
动物
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)