Pinyin Explained for Beginners: Sounds, Tones and the Tricky Letters

Pinyin is the system that writes Mandarin sounds with the Latin alphabet. It is not Chinese, and it is not English spelling. It is a code with its own rules, and once you learn them you can read any Chinese word aloud. It is also how you type Chinese on a phone, so it is worth learning properly.

How a syllable is built

Almost every Mandarin syllable has up to three parts: an initial (the starting consonant), a final (the vowel part, sometimes with an n or ng), and a tone. Take 好 hǎo: the initial is h, the final is ao, and the tone is the third. Some syllables have no initial, such as ài (爱, love).

The initials are b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, h, j, q, x, zh, ch, sh, r, z, c and s. The letters y and w are not extra consonants; they are how pinyin spells i and u when they start a syllable (yī 一, wǒ 我).

The pairs that English speakers hear as the same

Mandarin separates pairs by breath, not by voice. In each pair below, the first sound has a little puff of air and the second has a strong puff, like the difference between the "p" in "spin" and the "p" in "pin":

• b / p: bā 八 (eight) and pá 爬 (to climb)
• d / t: dà 大 (big) and tài 太 (too)
• g / k: gè 个 (a general counter) and kě 渴 (thirsty)
• j / q: jī 鸡 (chicken) and qī 七 (seven)
• zh / ch: zhè 这 (this) and chī 吃 (to eat)
• z / c: zài 在 (at) and cài 菜 (dish, vegetable)

A useful test: hold a piece of paper in front of your mouth. It should move for p, t, k, q, ch and c, and stay still for b, d, g, j, zh and z.

The tricky letters

• x is not "ks". It is a soft "sh" with your lips spread and the tip of your tongue behind your bottom teeth: xièxie 谢谢 (thank you), xiǎo 小 (small).
• q is not "kw". It is a "ch" made in the same position as x, with a strong puff: qù 去 (to go).
• j is the unpuffed partner of q: jiā 家 (home). It sounds somewhere between English "j" and "dy".
• zh and ch are made with the tongue tip curled slightly back, a bit like the "j" in "judge" and the "ch" in "church" with a heavier tongue: zhōngguó 中国 (China), chī 吃 (eat).
• sh is the same position, like "sh" in "shirt": shì 是 (to be).
• r is close to a mix of English "r" and the "s" in "measure": rén 人 (person).
• z sounds like "ds" in "kids", unpuffed, and c like "ts" in "cats", puffed.
• ü is the sound of the French "u": say "ee" and, without moving your tongue, round your lips. It appears in nǚ 女 (woman) and lǜ 绿 (green).

Pinyin drops the two dots when ü cannot be confused with u. After j, q, x and y, the letter u always means ü, so 去 is written qù, not qü, and 学 is xué. After n and l you must keep the dots, because both nu and nü exist.

Finals that surprise people

• i after zh, ch, sh, r, z, c and s is not "ee". It is a buzzy continuation of the consonant, as in shì 是 and sì 四 (four).
• e alone is a back "uh" sound: hē 喝 (to drink). In ei it is "ay" (méi 没) and in ie it is "eh" (xiè 谢).
• ian sounds like "yen": tiān 天 (day, sky), jiàn 见 (to see).
• ong is like "oong": zhōng 中 (middle), tóng 同 (same).
• ou sounds like "oh": hóu 猴 (monkey), dōu 都 (all).

How to practise pinyin

1. Learn sounds with a speaker, not from letters. Play a word and say it straight back. The audio on the topic pages comes with pinyin on every word.
2. Practise the six pairs. Say b and p, d and t, and so on, ten times each, with the paper test.
3. Read pinyin aloud. Take a short sentence from Chinese sentences, cover the English, and read the pinyin out before you play the audio.
4. Add tones from day one. Pinyin without tones is only half a word. See the tones guide.

Give pinyin a week of daily practice and you will be able to read any Chinese word with a pinyin transcription. Reading characters comes later, and you will use pinyin as a support for that too.

Listen and repeat with the tone and syllable drills, then try the greetings lesson, where every word is shown with pinyin.