How to Read Pinyin

Pinyin is a method of writing Mandarin words in phonetic form. These are the phonetic rules of pinyin. The numbers that you see after the words in the pinyin on this site indicates the tone with which the syllable is spoken. Refer to the end of this page for information on tones.

Definitions:

Initials – letter(s) that begin a syllable

Finals – letter(s) that end a syllable (Simple finals are all vowels)

Simple Finals (Vowels)

A - ahh

O – oh (unless it follows b, p, m, or f)

E - uh

I – ee (unless it follows z, c, s, r, zh, ch, or sh)

U – oo (vibrating in the back of the mouth, like you’d normally do it)

Ü – oo (vibrating in front of the mouth and nose)

Simple Initials and their special rules

B, P, M, F –

When a O follows these initials, you pronounce a U sound between them like “bo” is pronounced “b-oo-oh” (buo)

D, T, N, L –

No special rules.

G, K, H –

G is always a hard G, like in “girl” or “gas,” not like in “gelatin.”

H is a little breathy; create the breathy friction with your tongue in the back of your mouth.

J, Q, X –

J is like a soft G, like in “gelatin.”

Q sounds like CH. CH in Mandarin sounds the same but follows different phonetic rules when it comes to vowels.

X is like SH, but softer with more emphasis on the S sound. Make the sound a little bit further back in the mouth than you normally would make a SH sound. Use the tongue more than the teeth to make the sound.

For J, Q, and X, whenever it is followed by a U, that U sound is automatically a Ü even though the umlaut (those two dots) aren’t added.

Z, C, S –

Z and S sound as you’d expect. C sounds like “TS” stuck together.

When these letters are followed by a I, as in si, zi, and ci, the I sounds like the I in “did” or “hit.”

ZH, CH, SH, R –

ZH sounds like J in “join,” unless you’re talking to someone from southern China/Taiwan. In that case, it sounds more like a breathy Z.

R doesn’t sound like anything in the English language. It’s almost like a growling vibration in the back of the throat that ends with the vowel sound that follows it.

If “I” follows these initials, it sounds like “er” in “her.”

W, Y –

If a syllable starts with a U sound, it is spelled with a W, like “wu.” You don’t actually pronounce the W sound. If there’s another vowel in the syllable, drop the U.

If a syllable starts with a I or Ü sound, it is spelled with a Y, like “yi.” You don’t actually pronounce the Y sound. If it is a compound final like below that starts with an I, and it includes another vowel, drop that vowel. If it’s a Ü drop the umlaut.

Compound Finals

AI – sounds like I in “kite”

EI – sounds like A in “May”

AO – sounds like OW in “cow”

OU – sounds like OH

IE – sounds like “ee-ay”

IU – sounds like “yo”

IAN – sounds like “ee-en” like bien in Spanish.

UI – sounds like “way”

UN – sounds like “oo-en”

ER – sounds like “ar” like in “car”

TONES

The numbers at the end of each syllable indicate what tone to use when pronouncing the word. Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language, which means that the tone with which the word is pronounced can actually change its meaning.

1^st tone – no variation in pitch, high tone

2^nd tone – pitch rises, like when we ask a question. The pitch ends as high as 1^st tone.

3^rd tone – pitch descends, then rises, this tone starts and ends lower than the other tones.

4^th tone – starting from the pitch of 1^st tone, the pitch descends. This tone sounds like a command.

5^th tone – neutral tone, the tone doesn’t matter