Introduction
Chinese syllables have three parts: an initial, a final, and a tone.
Initial | Final | Tone | Syllable | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
他 | t | a | ˉ | tā | |
明 | m | ing | ˊ | míng | |
好 | h | ao | ˇ | hǎo | |
不 | b | u | ˋ | bù |
Initials
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b
p
m
f
d
t
n
l
g
k
h
j
q
x
zh
ch
sh
r
z
c
s
Finals
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a
ai
an
ang
ao
o
ou
ong
iong
e
ei
en
eng
er
i
ie
in
ing
iu
u
ui
un
uo
ü
üe
ün
üan
ia
ian
iang
iao
ua
uai
uan
uang
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 | Pinyin | Hanzi | Meaning | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | high | ˉ | mā | 媽 | mother | |
2 | rising | ˊ | má | 麻 | hemp | |
3 | low | ˇ | mǎ | 馬 | horse | |
4 | falling | ˋ | mà | 駡 | scold | |
5 | neutral | ˙ | ma | 嗎 | [question particle] | |
In pinyin, the fifth (neutral) tone is usually not marked.
Audio courtesy of the AllSet Learning Chinese Pronunciation Wiki, used with permission.