Pinyin

Pinyin consists of three parts.

Initial Final Tone

+ +

shng m yn m shng dio

n i
you n
Initial

shng m

bbook ppay) mmom) ffun

d (dog) t (tea) n (no) l (law)

g (girl) k (kite) h (hot) j

q x zh (junk) ch (chin)

sh (shoe) rrun z kids c cats

s (sun) y (is used for i/) w (when begin

i yi yu with u sound)
e yue u wu ua wa
uai wai
 Final

yn m

a o e i u

(father) (word) (uh) (ski) (ooh lala) [yu]

ai ei ui ao ou iu ie e er
(In writing, (In writing,
(cow) its a short (yet)
(eye) (pay) its a short (so) (yet) (teacher)
form for longer form for
[yue]
uei) iou)

an en in un n

(can) (taken) (teen) (u+en) (+en)

ang eng ing ong

(father (uh
(ee+ng) (only)
+song) +ng)
 Basic Rule for
Placing the Tone Mark

Mark tone marks in this order:

a o e i u

Whenu and i are side by side, mark

the one that comes last.
Final
a o e i u lin x
yn m

a o e i u

b ba bo bi bu yu

m ma mo me mi mu

n na ne ni nu n

l la le li lu l

Final
lin x
ai ao an ang ei en eng ou
yn m

ai ao an ang
d dai dao dan dang
t tai tao tan tang

ei en eng ou
p pei pen basin peng
f fei fen feng
g gou
k kou
h hou
 Tone
Common Tone Rules
shng dio

1Third Tone Sandhi

When a third tone followed by another

third tone, it should be pronounced as a
second tone automatically. But the writing
script should remain unchanged as the
third tone mark.
n + ho n ho
w + hn + ho w hn ho
 Tone

shng dio 2Tone sandhi of b

b changes to b when it occurs before

another fourth-toned syllable in the same
word, phrase, or breath group:

44 24
bdu not correct b du
bb need not b b
 Tone
3Tone sandhi of y
shng dio

y is pronounced in the fourth tone

when it precedes a first tone, second tone,
or third tone. It is read in the second tone
when it precedes a fourth tone.
 y

zi shu yi bin!
say it once again!

qng zi shu y bin!

say it once again, please!
 Tone
3Tone Changes in the numbers
qb
shng dio

Less commonly, q 7, and b8 may change

to second tone q, and b before a fourth-
toned.

14 24
q kui qinseven yuan q kui qin
b bi eightfold b bi