Pinyin final: "e4"

Mouth Mechanics (step-by-step)

1. Start with your jaw comfortably open (not wide like “ah,” not closed like “ee”).
2. Keep your lips relaxed and neutral—no rounding, no smiling. Think “resting face.”
3. Place your tongue low and slightly pulled back.
   • The tip of the tongue can rest behind the lower front teeth.
   • The middle/back of the tongue should feel “retracted,” creating a darker, more back-sounding vowel than English “uh.”
4. Keep the throat relaxed and let the sound resonate more in the back of the mouth than in the front.
5. Add Tone 4 (falling): start high and firm, then drop quickly to low, like giving a crisp, decisive “No.”
   • Don’t drag it out; it’s a clean, controlled drop.

English Approximation (what to use, and how to modify it)

This vowel does not exist as a normal, stable vowel in standard American English, so the goal is a modified familiar sound.

1. “uh” in “duh” / “huh” (the vowel part)
   • Use the “uh,” but pull the tongue slightly farther back than you normally would.
   • Keep lips neutral (don’t round).
2. The vowel in “took” (for some speakers)
   • Some English speakers can get closer by starting from a “took” vowel, then unround the lips completely while keeping the tongue slightly back.
   • Result: darker, back “uh” without lip rounding.
3. How to “build” it from English “er” (as in “her”)
   • Say “her,” then remove the R: keep the tongue not curled up and not tense.
   • You want the darkness of “er,” but with a plain vowel (no r-coloring).

Common Mistakes (English-speaker traps)

• Mistake 1: Pronouncing it like “ay” (as in “say”).
  e4 is not a bright “eh/ay” sound and should not glide upward. Keep it steady and dark.

• Mistake 2: Turning it into “er” (strong American R).
  Avoid the tight, r-colored “er.” There should be no strong R sound.

• Mistake 3: Rounding the lips like “oh.”
  Lips stay neutral, not rounded.

• Mistake 4: Getting the tone wrong (Tone 4).
  Tone 4 is high-to-low, decisive. Don’t make it rising, and don’t make it flat.

Practice Pairs (visual anchors)

These English words are approximations. Focus on the vowel quality plus the falling tone.

Tip for tone practice: Say the English anchor as if you’re giving a firm correction: “DUH.” (high) → (low).

Comparisons & Caveats (similar Pinyin patterns to watch)

A) e after different initials may look the same in spelling but can behave differently

• In e4 / te4 / ne4 / le4 / ge4 / ke4 / he4 / zhe4 / che4 / she4 / re4 / ze4 / ce4 / se4, the vowel is the same target: a dark, back “uh” with Tone 4.
  • After retroflex initials (zh/ch/sh/r), English speakers often accidentally pull the tongue too far back and tense it. Keep the vowel relaxed even if the initial feels “heavy.”

B) Don’t confuse “e” with “ye / jie / xie / qie / bie / mie / nie / lie”

• When you see ye4, jie4, qie4, xie4, bie4, mie4, nie4, lie4, the vowel quality shifts toward a clearer “yeh”-type sound (it starts with a y-like glide).
• That means ye4 is not the same vowel as plain e4.
  • e4 = dark, back “uh” (no “y” glide) + falling tone.
  • ye4 / jie4 / xie4 = “y” + a more front “eh” feeling + falling tone.

C) Don’t confuse “e” with “yue / xue / que / nüe / lüe”

• In yue4, xue4, que4, nüe4, lüe4, you have a rounded front glide (like saying “y” with rounded lips).
• Common trap: English speakers replace it with “you-eh” or “way.”
  • For these, lips are rounded, and the tongue is fronted compared with plain e4.
  • Plain e4 keeps neutral lips and a slightly back tongue.

D) A quick “self-check”

• If your lips round or you hear an “oh/oo” flavor, you drifted away from e4.
• If you hear an “ay/eh” brightness or a “y” glide, you drifted toward ye-/ie- syllables.
• If you hear a strong American R, you made “er,” not e.