Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced tai
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced tai, including 太 tài, 台 tái, 态 tài, 泰 tài, 抬 tái. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
tai opens with a clear puff of air on t; let that breath lead into ai and settle the tone across the syllable.
Initial t
Start the syllable on the initial t, then run straight into the final ai — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final ai
Settle the final ai into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (太 tài, 台 tái, 态 tài, 泰 tài, 抬 tái) and lock in their tones. 6 common characters share the sound tai, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
tai 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: 胎 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 台, 抬 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 太, 态, 泰 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing tai inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
6 common characters in this group.