Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced ai
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced ai, including 爱 ài, 埃 āi, 艾 ài, 碍 ài, 哀 āi. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
To say ai, begin on the vowel sound ai itself, hold its shape, and lay the tone over it; there is no initial to add.
Initial a
Start the syllable on the initial a, then run straight into the final i — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final i
After zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, s, this i is not the clear “ee” in see.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (爱 ài, 埃 āi, 艾 ài, 碍 ài, 哀 āi) and lock in their tones. 10 common characters share the sound ai, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
ai turns up here with 4 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 埃, 哀, 挨… (5 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 癌 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 矮 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 爱, 艾, 碍 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing ai inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
10 common characters in this group.