Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced ya
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced ya, including 亚 yà, 压 yā / yà, 呀 ya / yā, 牙 yá, 雅 yǎ. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
For ya, let the y- glide flow into a without a break, holding the tone over the joined syllable.
Initial y
Start the syllable on the initial y, then run straight into the final a — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final a
Settle the final a into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (亚 yà, 压 yā / yà, 呀 ya / yā, 牙 yá, 雅 yǎ) and lock in their tones. 11 common characters share the sound ya, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
ya turns up here with 5 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: 压, 押, 鸭… (5 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 牙, 崖 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 雅 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 亚, 讶 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
5
Taking the 5 here: 呀 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing ya inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
11 common characters in this group.