The Chinese Alphabet (Pinyin Letters)
Chinese has no alphabet — it has pinyin. Tap a letter to hear how it really sounds in Mandarin.
Pick a letter
open "ah" as in father
mom
All 26 letters, A to Z
- aopen "ah" as in fathera, an, ang, ia, ua妈妈māma
- bsoft unaspirated p, like the p in "spy"ba, bo, bi, bu爸爸bàba
- c"ts" as in cats, with a puff of airca, ce, ci, cao菜cài
- dsoft unaspirated t, like the t in "stop"da, de, di, dou大dà
- ethroaty "uh", not the e of "bed"e, en, eng, er饿è
- fsame as English ffa, fo, fei, fu飞fēi
- gsoft unaspirated k, like the k in "ski"ga, ge, gu, guo哥哥gēge
- hrougher than English h, from the back of the throatha, he, hu, hao好hǎo
- i"ee" — but after z/c/s/zh/ch/sh/r it is a buzzed vowelyi, bi, shi, zi一yī
- jlike "jee" with the tongue tip down, lips spreadji, jia, jiu, jian家jiā
- kstrong k with a puff of airka, ke, kai, kou看kàn
- lsame as English lla, le, li, lao老师lǎoshī
- msame as English mma, mo, mi, men马mǎ
- nsame as English nna, ne, ni, nan你nǐ
- orounded "aw", between o and uo, bo, mo, ou我wǒ
- pstrong p with a puff of airpa, po, pi, pao朋友péngyou
- qlike "chee" with the tongue tip down — NOT the q of "queen"qi, qia, qiu, qian钱qián
- rbetween English r and the s in "measure"ri, re, ren, rou人rén
- ssame as English ssa, se, si, san三sān
- tstrong t with a puff of airta, te, ti, tou他tā
- u"oo" as in food — after j/q/x/y it becomes üwu, bu, gu, hua五wǔ
- vnot used in pinyin — typing v enters ü(typing only)女nǚ
- wsame as English wwa, wo, wu, wan晚上wǎnshang
- xsoft "sh" with the tongue tip down and lips spreadxi, xia, xiu, xian谢谢xièxie
- ysame as English yya, ye, yi, you月yuè
- z"dz" as in kids — no puff of airza, ze, zi, zao再见zàijiàn
Print this page for a one-sheet pinyin alphabet chart. The sounds are approximations for English speakers; tap a word to hear the real thing.
Strictly speaking, Chinese has no alphabet: characters stand for whole syllables and meanings, not individual sounds. What learners call "the Chinese alphabet" is pinyin — the official romanization that spells every Mandarin syllable with the 26 Latin letters, plus tone marks. This page shows what each letter *actually* sounds like in pinyin, because roughly a third of them are false friends.
The dangerous ones are famous: c is "ts", q is a "ch" with spread lips, x is a soft "sh", zh/ch/sh curl the tongue back, and after z/c/s the letter i stops being "ee" and becomes a buzz. Tap through the letters, listen to a real word for each, and when you want to know whether you can *say* them — not just hear them — take the free pronunciation test.
Does Chinese have an alphabet?
No. Chinese writing uses characters (汉字), each a syllable with meaning. Pinyin is the official Latin-letter system used to teach pronunciation and to type — it is what people mean by "the Chinese alphabet".
Which letters trip up English speakers most?
q (like "cheese" with spread lips, not "queen"), x (soft "sh"), c ("ts" as in cats), z ("dz"), r (between r and the s of "measure"), and the vowel i after z/c/s/zh/ch/sh/r, which becomes a buzzed vowel instead of "ee".
How do I type ü?
Type v — pinyin does not use v for any sound, so every input method reads it as ü: nv → 女 (nǚ), lv → 绿 (lǜ).
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