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Compound Finals 2: ie, üe, er

Two more gliding finals plus the special final er.

Quick answer

ie and üe glide into a short ‘e’; er is a single curled-tongue final unlike anything in the others.

ie
üe
er

Hear each sound, then repeat it aloud.

When to use it

For ie and üe, start on the first sound and glide into a light ‘e’. For er, relax the tongue and curl it slightly.

Common mistake

er is one sound, not ‘e’ + ‘r’ said separately. Let the tongue curl while you say the vowel.

Practise aloud

xiè thanks
yuè moon
èr two

You’ve got this!

er stands apart from the other finals — practise it on its own. You already meet it in èr (two). Then glide through ie and üe as in xiè (thanks) and yuè (moon).