The Mandarin Syllable

Each Chinese character consists of only one syllable of up to three components:

(an initial) + a final + a tone
or (聲母) (shēngmǔ) + 韻母 (yùnmǔ) + 聲調 (shēngdiào).

The final sometimes has a head (韻頭; yùntóu), also called a "medial" (介音; jièyīn) before its base (韻身; yùnshēn).

* The Pinyin letters are to show syllabic components only, and may not conform to spelling rules.
** Play audios to listen to each syllable and its components.