Pinyin: how to read Chinese pinyin

What pinyin is, and what it is not

Hanyu Pinyin ("spell-sound") is the romanization of Standard Mandarin. China adopted it in 1958 and it has been the international standard (ISO 7098) since 1982. It is how Chinese children first learn to read, how dictionaries order words, and how almost everyone in mainland China types Chinese: you type the pinyin and pick the character.

Pinyin is not a second Chinese writing system and it is not the "Chinese alphabet" — Chinese is written in characters, and pinyin only tells you how a character is pronounced. It is also not English spelling: the letters were chosen for Mandarin sounds, so q, x, c and zh mean something no English word would suggest. Older spellings like Peking and Tsingtao come from Wade–Giles and other systems; in pinyin they are Běijīng and Qīngdǎo.

Taiwan teaches pronunciation with Zhuyin (bopomofo) symbols instead, though Hanyu Pinyin has been its official romanization since 2009. Either way, the sounds are the same — only the spelling differs.

Pinyin initials: the 21 consonants, with audio

The initial is the consonant at the start of a syllable. Mandarin pairs most of them: one without a puff of air (b, d, g, z, zh, j) and one with a strong puff (p, t, k, c, ch, q). Hold a hand in front of your mouth — p, t, k should push air, b, d, g should not. Tap any word to hear it.

Pinyin finals: the vowel part, with audio

The final is everything after the initial: a vowel, a vowel pair, or a vowel plus n or ng. A syllable can also be a final on its own (爱 ài, 饿 è). The spellings below are how finals are written after a consonant; the next section shows how they change at the start of a syllable.

Tone marks: the four tones and the neutral tone

The mark over the vowel is the tone — the pitch movement of the syllable — and it changes the word. 买 mǎi is "buy"; 卖 mài is "sell". Learning a word without its tone is learning half a word.

The full tones guide on this site has a tones chart, what each tone does in the mouth and a 20-pair drill — this page covers just enough to read the marks.

Spelling rules that change how pinyin looks

Pinyin abbreviates. A few rules hide or swap letters, and they explain most of the "why is it spelled like that?" moments.

When the written tone is not the spoken tone

Pinyin normally writes each syllable's dictionary tone, but in speech a few tones change with their neighbours. Learn these four and connected speech stops sounding robotic.

10 pinyin mistakes English speakers make

1. 1

   Reading q as k and x as ks

   q is a ch-like sound and x a soft sh. 七 qī is close to "chee", 谢谢 xièxie to "shyeh-shyeh".

   七qī · seven谢谢xièxie · thank you
2. 2

   Reading c as k or s

   c is always ts with a puff. 菜 cài sounds like "tsai", not "kai".

   菜cài · dish
3. 3

   Making zh and j the same

   zh curls the tongue back; j keeps it flat behind the lower teeth. 知 zhī and 鸡 jī are different words.

   知道zhīdào · know鸡jī · chicken
4. 4

   Voicing b, d, g

   English b, d, g are voiced; Mandarin's are not. The difference from p, t, k is only the puff of air.

   爸bà · dad怕pà · afraid
5. 5

   Saying e as "eh"

   On its own, e is a throaty "uh" with spread lips. It is "eh" only inside ie and üe.

   饿è · hungry喝hē · drink
6. 6

   Saying the i in shi and si as "ee"

   After z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, r the i is a buzz, not a vowel you can hear on its own.

   是shì · to be四sì · four
7. 7

   Dropping the ü

   nǚ is not "noo", and the u in 去 qù and 学 xué is a ü with the dots left off.

   女nǚ · woman去qù · go
8. 8

   Reading ian as "ee-ahn"

   ian rhymes with "yen": 天 tiān is "tyen", 钱 qián is "chyen".

   天tiān · day; sky钱qián · money
9. 9

   Reading iu, ui, un letter by letter

   Put the hidden vowel back: 九 jiǔ is "jyoh", 对 duì is "dway".

   九jiǔ · nine对duì · correct
10. 10

    Treating tone marks as decoration

    Change the tone and you change the word: 买 mǎi "buy" and 卖 mài "sell" differ only in tone.

    买mǎi · buy卖mài · sell

Minimal pairs: hear the difference

Each pair differs in one sound. Listen to both, then say both — if they come out the same, that is the sound to work on.