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Learn Pinyin in 5 Hours

Overview

Written Chinese is comprised by hanzi (Chinese character), or simply zi. Example: 天 means sky.

Pinyin uses Latin alphabet to denote pronounciations of Chinese characters. It is also used to type in Chinese. Example: tiān is the pinyin for 天. It is typed as tian.

The pinyin for a Chinese character consists of three parts: initial, final, and tone.

Initial + final presents the base form for pronounciation of Chinese character; e.g., tian is the base form pinyin for 天; initial is t, final is ian. Initial and final are also called consonent and vowel, respectively

Tone gives five different ways to speak out a same base form pinyin, so that different characters with same base form can be differentiated. With tone, pinyin is wriiten slightly different than base form. Take mo as an example:

  • tone 1: mō. 摸. touch.
  • tone 2: mó. 模. model.
  • tone 3: mǒ. 抹. wipe.
  • tone 4: mò. 莫. do not.
  • tone neutral: mo. 么. final interrogative particle.
Note: tone neutral is not used often. It sounds like a very short tone 1.

 As you can see, tone adds an attribute to pinyin, and is denoted by writing a tone-marking on top of the most important vowel letter; e.g., tián, luò.
An alternative way is to write tone marking as a number at end of base form of pinyin; e.g., tuan2, meaning tuan with tone 2.

Typing

When typing Chinese characters via pinyin, tone-marking is usually omitted, e.g., just type tian for tián, and luo for luò.

For vowel letter ü, use v; e.g., for lǔ (e.g., 旅, travel), type in lv.

Initials (consonants)

Initials are consonants. many of them sounds like English counterparts. (the pronounciations to the right of each consonant form a poem for remembering the initials)

    pronounciation samples are given as with vowel o:
  • b: as in bike.
  • p: as in peak.
  • m: as in mike.
  • f: as in file.

    • pronounciation samples are given as with vowel e:
  • d: as in dean.
  • t: as in tea.
  • n: as in nice.
  • l: as in life.

    • pronounciation samples are given as with vowel e:
  • g: as in good.
  • k: as in key.
  • h: as in have.

    • pronounciation samples are given as with vowel i:
  • j: like in jeep, but with tongue touching the teeth.
  • q: like in cheese, but with longue touching teeth.
  • x: to make this sound, first make s sound, then move middle of tongue forward and upward.

    • pronounciation samples are given as with vowel i:
  • z: like ds in funds.
  • c: like ts in tents.
  • s: as in sun.

    • pronounciation samples are given as with vowel i:
  • zh: like last g in george.
  • ch: like in charm.
  • sh: like in shut.
  • r: as in rain.

    • w, y are not real initials. When u or i is first letter of final and no initial is present, it is written as w, y, respectively. For simplicity, we list them as initals.
  • w: as in wear.
  • y: as in you.

Finals (vowels)

Basic vowels:

  • a: like a in cast.
  • o: like o in shore.
  • e: like ur in blur.

  • i: like ee in teeth.
  • u: like oo in tooth.
  • ū: to make this sound, first make the yi sound (like ee in teeth); then make your lip forward and round. Use letter v in typing.

All finals (samples use initial t, p, h, etc.):

  • a: tā      ai: tāi.      an: tān.      ang: tāng.      ao: tāo.

  • e: tè      ei: péi.      en: pén.      eng: téng.      er: ér.     

  • i: tī      ia: jiā.      ian: tiān.      iang: jiāng.      iao: tiào.

    ie: tiē.      in: jīn.      ing: tīng.      iong: jiǒng.      iu: jiū.     

  • o: pō      ong: tóng.      ou: tōu.     

  • u: tǔ      ua: huā.      uai: huái.      uan: huān.      uang: huáng.      ui: tuī.      un: tūn.      uo: tuō.     

  • ü: lǜ      üan: jüān.      üe: jüé.      ün: jǖn.     
When adding tone mark to a multi-vowel-letter final, e.g., ao, which vowel letter should we put the mark on? The rule is:
  • if there is a or e, mark goes to them; e.g., áo. (there is no case where a and e both appear)
  • else if final is ou, then put mark on o; e.g., ōu.
  • else, just put mark on last vowel letter; e.g., iù

All pinyin forms

Presently, these are three forms of pinyin in use.

  • Full form, i.e., initial+final+tone-mark. e.g., tiān. Full form is manly used in Chinese learning and document indexing. It is not convenient to type vowel letters with tone-markings.

  • Base form, i.e., initial+final. e.g., tian. Base form is mainly used in Chinese learning, to depict the basic pinyin pattern without tone.

  • Typing form. This is almost the same as base form, except vowel letter ü is replaced by v, such that all pinyin letters have keys on widely-used western keyboards. This form is mainly used in typing and in electronic communications.
Below we list all pinyin patterns in Typing form.

  • a      ai      an      ang      ao     

  • ba      bai      ban      bang      bao      bei      ben      beng

    bi      bian      biao      bie      bin      bing      bo      bu     

  • ca      cai      can      cang      cao      ce      cen      ceng

    ci      cong      cou      cu      cuan      cui      cun      cuo

  • cha      chai      chan      chang      chao      che      chen      cheng      chi      chong

    chou      chu      chuai      chuan      chuang      chui      chun      chuo

  • da      dai      dan      dang      dao      de      dei

    deng      di      dia      dian      diao      die      ding

    diu      dong      dou      du      duan      dui      dun      duo

  • e      en      er

  • fa      fan      fang      fei      fen      feng      fo      fou      fu

  • ga      gai      gan      gang      gao      ge      gei      gen      geng      gong

    gou      gu      gua      guai      guan      guang      gui      gun      guo

  • ha      hai      han      hang      hao      he      hei      hen      heng      hong

    hou      hu      hua      huai      huan      huang      hui      hun      huo

  • ji      jia      jian      jiang      jiao      jie      jin

    jing      jiong      jiu      ju      juan      jue      jun

  • ka      kai      kan      kang      kao      ke      ken      keng      kong

    kou      ku      kua      kuai      kuan      kuang      kui      kun      kuo

  • la      lai      lan      lang      lao      le      lei      leng

    li      lia      lian      liang      liao      lie      lin      ling

    liu      long      lou      lu      luan      lue      lun      luo      lv

  • ma      mai      man      mang      mao      me      mei      men      meng      mi

    mian      miao      mie      min      ming      miu      mo      mou      mu

  • na      nai      nan      nang      nao      ne      nei      nen

    neng      ni      nian      niang      niao      nie      nin      ning

    niu      nong      nou      nu      nuan      nue      nuo      nv

  • o      ou

  • pa      pai      pan      pang      pao      pei      pen      peng      pi

    pian      piao      pie      pin      ping      po      pou      pu

  • qi      qia      qian      qiang      qiao      qie      qin

    qing      qiong      qiu      qu      quan      que      qun

  • ran      rang      rao      re      ren      reng      ri

    rong      rou      ru      ruan      rui      run      ruo

  • sa      sai      san      sang      sao      se      sen      seng

    si      song      sou      su      suan      sui      sun      suo

  • sha      shai      shan      shang      shao      she      shei      shen      sheng      shi

    shou      shu      shua      shuai      shuan      shuang      shui      shun      shuo

  • ta      tai      tan      tang      tao      te      tei      teng      ti      tian

    tiao      tie      ting      tong      tou      tu      tuan      tui      tun      tuo

  • wa      wai      wan      wang      wei      wen      weng      wo      wu

  • xi      xia      xian      xiang      xiao      xie      xin

    xing      xiong      xiu      xu      xuan      xue      xun

  • ya      yan      yang      yao      ye      yi      yin

    ying      yong      you      yu      yuan      yue      yun

  • za      zai      zan      zang      zao      ze      zei      zen

    zeng      zi      zong      zou      zu      zuan      zui      zun      zuo

  • zha      zhai      zhan      zhang      zhao      zhe      zhei      zhen      zheng      zhi

    zhong      zhou      zhu      zhua      zhuai      zhuan      zhuang      zhui      zhun      zhuo

How to type in tone-marked vowel letters?

Pinyin full-form (e.g., pàng) is the cannonical form; yet its vowel letter (e.g., à) is difficult to input it on computer; normally this requires several key presses or input mode switches.

TypingChinese.com provides online service to do this conveniently with just one stroke. Its innovative HanWJ Tone Pinyin Input Method makes tone pinyin input more natural and efficient. See here.

HanWJ Chinese Smart Editor is a unique software to do this on a PC.

How to type in Chinese?

www.TypingChinese.com is an excellent place to type in Chinese characters via pinyin.

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