zh
Sounds kind of like "j" in "jerk", but voiceless and with the tongue further back in the mouth.
zhīdào
to know
知道
zhàopiàn
photograph
照片
ch
Sounds kind of like "ch" in "chirp", but with the tongue further back in the mouth.
chī
to eat
吃
chūqù
to go out
出去
sh
Sounds kind of like "sh" in "Shrek", but with the tongue further back in the mouth.
shí
ten
十
shēnghuó
life
生活
r
Sounds kind of like "sur" in "pleasure", but with the tongue further back in the mouth. Depending on the speaker, this sound may or may not sound buzzy.
rì
sun
日
rén
person
人
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)