Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced le
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced le, including 了 le, 乐 lè / yuè, 勒 lè / lēi. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
le joins the initial l to the final e in one motion — say it as a single Mandarin beat with the tone over it, not as English letters in a row.
Initial l
Start the syllable on the initial l, then run straight into the final e — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final e
Settle the final e into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (了 le, 乐 lè / yuè, 勒 lè / lēi) and lock in their tones. 3 common characters share the sound le, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
le turns up here with 2 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 乐, 勒 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
5
Taking the 5 here: 了 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing le inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
3 common characters in this group.