Pinyin

toc Pinyin  1) See below Introductions 2) See below Explanation of sounds 3) See below a list of all pinyin combinations

Introduction to Pinyin
ActiveChinese intro http://www.activechinese.com/school/pinyin.jsp MIT open courseware introduction to pinyin: http://web.mit.edu/~jinzhang/www/pinyin/  Pinyin is the system that China uses to express in written form the sounds of Chinese. (Although some Chinese characters contain a sound element, they are neither universal nor consistent.) Pinyin has a number of important uses. It is useful as a learning tool, for example when learning a new character and the accompanying pronunciation, it can be helpful to note down the pinyin in order to remember how to pronounce it. Pinyin is also used as one method of looking up words in a dictionary. Also note that Pinyin has been accepted by the Library of Congress, The American Library Association, and most international institutions as the transcription system for Mandarin. In 1979 the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopted Pinyin as the standard romanization system for Modern Chinese (Mandarin). (There are other systems – Yale, Wade-Giles, Gwoyeu Romatzu, Bo Po Mo Fo – but they are not widely used anymore.) Finally, Pinyin is commonly used to enter Chinese into word processing software or other software on a computer or other similar electronic device. Although Pinyin is not the only way to do this, it is one of the easiest and least complicated. Fortunately for speakers of (standard American) English, many of the sounds found in Mandarin are similar to those in English, with a few important exceptions. There is a built-in danger here that English speakers will look at Pinyin and assume that the pronunciation is the same as in English. Please read through the following rules of Pinyin pronunciation. Every character in Chinese in monosyllabic (i.e. the pronunciation is only one syllable), and every syllable is made up of one initial sound and one vowel, or final, sound. Occasionally, the initial sound is absent. You will see from the two tables following that not all combinations exist.

Vowels/Finals - 32
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">a: as in "father" <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ai: like English "eye" or “Thai” or “my”, but a bit lighter <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">an: following a ‘y’ or an ‘i’ pronounced like the en in “enter”; otherwise after other consonants like on in “upon” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ang: same as an, but with a ‘g’ sound at the end (even when following ‘i’ or ‘y’). <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ao: approximately as in "cow" but withouth the ending ‘w’ sound, or “ouch”; the a is much more audible than the o <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">e: a little shorter than the oo in “cook”; when following ‘y’ or ‘i’ pronounced as “yet” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ei: as in "hey" “way” or “weigh” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">en:sounds like an when you say quickly “an elephant” or “chicken” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">eng: like the ung in “lung” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">i: like English "ee", except when preceded by "c", "s", "z"; "zh", “sh”, ch, and r. Here it is pronounced like “shirt” When preceded by c, s, or z, there is almost no sound of the vowel. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ia: as ya in “yacht” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ian: like “yen” (see ‘an’ above) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">iang: like “yahng” (not yang) (see ‘ang’ above) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">iao: “yow” (rhymes with cow) (see ‘ao’ above), second part of “meow” but as one syllable <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ie: the initial i sounds like English "ee", but is very short; e, like ye in “yet” (see ‘e’ above) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">in:“in” though slightly longer (approaching “seen”) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ing: as in “sing” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">iong: a y sound followed by the ong in “long” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">iu: pronounced like yo (though without the attitude) or “O solo mio” but as one syllable <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">o: follows only m, p, b, and f, where it is the same as ‘uo’ below. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ong: here, o is a sound somewhere in between English "o" as in "song" and English "u" as in "bush" <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ou: oe as in “doe” (without a strong ‘w’ sound at the end) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">u: like English "oo", except when preceded by y, x, j or q; in this case it is pronounced like ü, or yu, but with a tighter mouth. Pinch your mouth together and say ‘ee’. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ü or uu: as in German "üben" or French "lune" <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ua: wa as in “want” or “wash” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">uai: “why” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">uan: wan as in “want”; except when preceded by a j, q, x, or y, when it is pronounced “when”, though with a rounding of the mouth and lips and without any airy ‘wh’ sound. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">uang: “wong” or the Korean “won” plus a g sound. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">üe: e is pronounced like ê, the ü is short and light, as in “wet” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ui: “way” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">un: following j,q,x, or y, pronounced as “win” but with rounded lips <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">uo: the u is pronounced shorter and lighter than the o, like the wo in “swore”

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Consonants/Initials - 23
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">b: unaspirated "p", like the English "b" but with a bit more pressure <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">c: like "ts" in cats <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ch: as in "chin" <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">d: unaspirated "t", like the English "d" but with a bit more pressure <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">f: as in English <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">g: unaspirated "k", like the English "g" but with a bit more pressure <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">h: like the English "h" if followed by "a"; otherwise it is pronounced more roughly/guttural (not unlike the Scottish "ch") <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">j: like zh, but not as "full", about halfway between zh and z <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">k: as in English <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">l: as in English <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">m: as in English <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">n: as in English <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">p: as in English <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">q: like ch, but not as "full", about halfway between ch and c, always followed by a y sound <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">r: similar to the English "r" in "rank" with a bit of the initial sound in French "journal" in it <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">s: as in "sun" <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">sh: as in "shin" <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">t: as in English <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">w: as in English <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">x: think of hs or sy. Like sh, but not as "full", about halfway between sh and s <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">y: as in English; not pronounced at all if followed by i <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">z: like the ds in “reds” but with more pressure (unaspirated counterpart of c above) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">zh: as in English "jungle", but with more pressure (unaspirated counterpart of ch above)

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">List of All Pinyin Combinations
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">a, ai, an, ang, ao, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ba, bai, ban, bang, bao, bei, ben, beng, bi, bian, biao, bie, bin, bing, bo, bou, bu, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ca, cai, can, cang, cao, ce, cen, ceng, cha, chai, chan, chang, chao, che, chen, cheng, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">chi, chong, chou, chu, chua, chuai, chuan, chuang, chui, chun, chuo, ci, cong, cou, cu, cuan, cui, cun, cuo, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">da, dai, dan, dang, dao, de, dei, deng, di, dian, diao, die, ding, diu, dong, dou, du, duan, dui, dun, duo, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">e, en, eng, er, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">fa, fan, fang, fei, fen, feng, fo, fou, fu, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ga, gai, gan, gang, gao, ge, gei, gen, geng, gong, gou, gu, gua, guai, guan, guang, gui, gun, guo, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ha, hai, han, hang, hao, he, hei, hen, heng, hong, hou, hu, hua, huai, huan, huang, hui, hun, huo, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ji, jia, jian, jiang, jiao, jie, jin, jing, jiong, jiu, ju, juan, jue, jun, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ka, kai, kan, kang, kao, ke, ken, keng, kong, kou, ku, kua, kuai, kuan, kuang, kui, kun, kuo, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">la, lai, lan, lang, lao, le, lei, leng, li, lia, lian, liang, liao, lie, lin, ling, liu, long, lou, lu, luan, lue, lun, luo, luu, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ma, mai, man, mang, mao, me, mei, men, meng, mi, mian, miao, mie, min, ming, miu, mo, mou, mu, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">na, nai, nan, nang, nao, ne, nei, nen, neng, ni, nian, niang, niao, nie, nin, ning, niu, nong, nou, nu, nuan, nue, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">nun, nuo, nuu, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">o, ou, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">pa, pai, pan, pang, pao, pei, pen, peng, pi, pian, piao, pie, pin, ping, po, pou, pu, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">qi, qia, qian, qiang, qiao, qie, qin, qing, qiong, qiu, qu, quan, que, qun, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ran, rang, rao, re, ren, reng, ri, rong, rou, ru, ruan, rui, run, ruo, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">sa, sai, san, sang, sao, se, sen, seng, sha, shai, shan, shang, shao, shuan, she, shei, shen, sheng, shi, shou, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">shu, shua, shuai, shuang,, shui, shun, shuo, si, song, sou, su, suan, sui, sun, suo, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ta, tai, tan, tang, tao, te, teng, ti, tian, tiao, tie, ting, tong, tou, tu, tuan, tui, tun, tuo, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">wa, wai, wan, wang, wei, wen, weng, wo, wu, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">xi, xia, xian, xiang, xiao, xie, xin, xing, xiong, xiu, xu, xuan, xue, xun, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ya, yai, yan, yang, yao, ye, yi, yin, ying, yo, yong, you, yu, yuan, yue, yun, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">za, zai, zan, zang, zao, ze, zei, zen, zeng, zha, zhai, zhan, zhang, zhao, zhe, zhei, zhen, zheng, zhi, zho, zhong, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">zhou, zhu, zhua, zhuai, zhuan, zhuang, zhui, zhun, zhuo, zi, zong, zou, zu, zuan, zui, zun, zuo

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Pinyin Table
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">