Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced su
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced su, including 苏 sū, 诉 sù, 速 sù, 素 sù, 俗 sú. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
To say su, use a flat-tongue s, slide into u, and lay the tone on top — it is one sound, not the letters read separately.
Initial s
Keep the tongue flat and the sound clean.
Final u
Keep the lips rounded.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (苏 sū, 诉 sù, 速 sù, 素 sù, 俗 sú) and lock in their tones. 9 common characters share the sound su, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
su turns up here with 3 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: 苏, 稣 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 俗 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 诉, 速, 素… (6 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing su inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
9 common characters in this group.