Consonants, Vowels and Tones in Chinese Language
Pinyin is the Romanization of the Chinese characters based on their pronunciation. In Mandarin Chinese, the phrase “Pin Yin” literally translates into “spell sound”. Pin (拼) means “spell” and yin (音) means “sound”.
Pinyin is the Romanization of the Chinese characters based on their pronunciation. In Mandarin Chinese, the phrase “Pin Yin” literally translates into “spell sound”. Pin (拼) means “spell” and yin (音) means “sound”.
• There are 23 consonants or initials in Pinyin
• There are 35 vowels or finals in Pinyin
• 432 syllables. 1376 syllables if all tonal variation is taken into account
• There are four tones in Mandarin – ā á ǎ à
Consonant or initial
b p m f
d t n l
g k h
j q x
d t n l
g k h
j q x
zh ch sh r
z c s
y w
y w
Chinese Vowels
a o e ai ei ao ou an en ang
eng ong
i ia ie
iao iou(iu) ian in iang ing
iong
u ua uo uai uei (ui) uan uen (un)
uang ueng
ü üe üan ün
Four tones in Mandarin – ā á ǎ à
- Tone 1: flat (5-5) ā
- Tone 2: up (3-5) á
- Tone 3: curve (2-1-4) ǎ
- Tone 4: down (5-1) à
- Toneless a
For example:
mā má mǎ mà ma
妈 麻 马 骂 吗
mother hemp horse to scold question word
妈 麻 马 骂 吗
mother hemp horse to scold question word
In other words, spelling out Chinese phrases with letters from the English alphabet. For example:
Chinese Characters: 学习中文
Pinyin (Read): xué xí zhōng wén
