Introduction
Chinese syllables have three parts: an initial, a final, and a tone.
Initial | Final | Tone | Syllable | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
他 | ㄊ | ㄚ | ˉ | ㄊㄚˉ | |
明 | ㄇ | ㄧㄥ | ˊ | ㄇㄧㄥˊ | |
好 | ㄏ | ㄠ | ˇ | ㄏㄠˇ | |
不 | ㄅ | ㄨ | ˋ | ㄅㄨˋ |
Initials
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ㄅ
ㄆ
ㄇ
ㄈ
ㄉ
ㄊ
ㄋ
ㄌ
ㄍ
ㄎ
ㄏ
ㄐ
ㄑ
ㄒ
ㄓ
ㄔ
ㄕ
ㄖ
ㄗ
ㄘ
ㄙ
Finals
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ㄚ
ㄞ
ㄢ
ㄤ
ㄠ
ㄛ
ㄡ
ㄨㄥ
ㄩㄥ
ㄜ
ㄟ
ㄣ
ㄥ
ㄦ
ㄧ
ㄧㄝ
ㄧㄣ
ㄧㄥ
ㄧㄡ
ㄨ
ㄨㄟ
ㄨㄣ
ㄨㄛ
ㄩ
ㄩㄝ
ㄩㄣ
ㄩㄢ
ㄧㄚ
ㄧㄢ
ㄧㄤ
ㄧㄠ
ㄨㄚ
ㄨㄞ
ㄨㄢ
ㄨㄤ
Tones
Chinese is a tonal language. Syllables that differ only in tones can have different meanings.
There are four main tones and a neutral tone.
Tone | Zhuyin | Hanzi | Meaning | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | high | ˉ | ㄇㄚ | 媽 | mother | |
2 | rising | ˊ | ㄇㄚˊ | 麻 | hemp | |
3 | low | ˇ | ㄇㄚˇ | 馬 | horse | |
4 | falling | ˋ | ㄇㄚˋ | 駡 | scold | |
5 | neutral | ˙ | ㄇㄚ˙ | 嗎 | [question particle] |
In zhuyin, the first (high) tone is usually not marked.
Audio courtesy of the AllSet Learning Chinese Pronunciation Wiki, used with permission.