Chinese Words Construction

Chinese is Primarily a Monosyllabic language i.e. each sound is a meaningful word. 

A Roman/English script for chinese words is called Pinyin/Romanisation.

A word is made of a monosyllable and a tone.
A monosyllable is made of an Initial and a Final.

There are 21 Initials(consonants) and 23 if w and y are also included. 

w and y are used for decorative purpose.

There are 36 Finals.

Initials:
b p m f
d t n l
g k h
j q x
zh ch sh r
z c s
w y

Important Finals:
e, a, i, o, u, v