This document provides an introduction to Hanyu Pinyin, the system for romanizing Mandarin Chinese, including: 1) Chinese syllables are made up of an initial consonant, a final vowel, and a tone. The four tones are described. 2) Common initials, finals, and tones are listed with examples. Rules for spelling conventions such as combining initials and finals are explained. 3) Exceptions and special cases in the spelling rules are covered, such as changes to vowels when no initial is present or differences in spelling when certain initials are used. 4) Tonal changes that occur in words are demonstrated, such as the changes to the third tone in

1. Hanyu Pinyin
A brief Introduction to
Chinese Phonetics

2. 音节 Syllables
• One syllable is one character
wŏ
我
Běi jīng
北 京
Wŏ xuéxí hànyŭ
我 学习 汉语

3. The structure of a syllable
声母： Initial
韵母： Final
声调： Tone
北京 Běi jīng
Initial Final Tone
B ei ˇ
北
J ing ˉ
京

4. 声母 Initials

5. 韵母 Finals

6. 声调 Tones
•− the 1st tone 55 high-level
一声
•∕ the 2nd tone 35 rising
二声
•∨ the 3rd tone 214 rising and
三声
falling
•﹨ the 4th tone 51 falling
四声
5 5 5 5
4 4 4 4
3 3 3 3
2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1

7. 声调 Tones
• 网吧——王八 wǎng bā -wángba
• 山西——陕西 shānxī --shǎnxī
• 打算——大蒜 dǎsuàn --dàsuàn
• 狮子——柿子 shīzi --shìzi

8. 辨别四声
• 买 măi —— to buy 卖 mài —— to sell
• 妈 mā 麻 má 马 mă 骂
mà
• ( mother ) ( hemp ) ( horse ) ( abuse )
• 烟 yān 盐 yán 眼 yăn 燕
yàn
• ( cigarette ) ( salt ) ( eye ) ( swallow )
• 一 yī 移 yí 椅 yĭ 义
yì
• ( one ) ( to move ) ( chair ) ( meaning )

9. 轻声 Light tone/neutral tone
bàba father
爸爸
háizi child
孩子
dōngxi things
东西
huílai come back
回来
chángchang have a taste
尝尝

10. 声调 Tones
• 香港 台湾 上海 广州 深圳
宁波 北京
Xiānggǎng Táiwān Shànghǎi Guǎngzhōu Shēnzhèn Níngbō Běijīng
• 太原 哈尔滨 天津 厦门 重庆
南京
Tàiyuán Hāěrbīn Tiānjīn Xiàmén Chóngqìng Nánjīng

11. Zero Initials
零声母
• ōu zhōu Europe
欧洲
• ào yùn hùi Olympics
奥运会
games
• ài 爱
love ， to love

12. -i
• zi 孩子 háizi 汉字 hànzì 自己 zìjǐ
• ci 生词 shēng cí 一次 yícì 辞职 cízhí
• si 四次 sì cì 公司 gōngsī 自私 zìsī
• zhi 一直 yìzhí 果汁 guǒzhī 报纸
bàozhǐ
• chi 吃饭 chīfàn 迟到 chídào
游泳池 yóuyǒngchí
• shi 老师 lǎoshī 三十 sānshí 小时
xiǎoshí

13. the changes of 3rd tone
（ 3rd tone 2nd tone)
• ∨+ ∨= ∕+ ∨
hello nĭhăo （ níhăo ）
你好
shuĭguǒ （ shuíguǒ ）
fruit
水果
very good hĕnhăo （ hénhăo ）
很好

14. the changes of 3rd tone
(3rd tone half 3rd tone)
• ∨+ − 、 ∕ 、 ﹨、○
= ∨ + − 、 ∕ 、 ﹨、○
Notes ： Half third tone is different with
fourth tone. It begins lower.
好吃 taste good hǎochī
5
好人 good man hǎorén 4
好看 look good hǎokàn 3
2
喜欢 to like xǐhuan 1

15. Changes of tone of “ 一”
• the changes of the tone of yī “ 一”
一样 the same yīyàng —— yíyàng
一次（ do sth ） for one time
yī cì—— yícì
一起 together yīqǐ ——yìqǐ
一年 one year yīnián —— yìnián

16. Changes of tone of “ 不”
• the changes of the tone of bù “ 不”
不去 not go búqù bù —— bú
不错 fairly good búcuò bù —— bú
不客气 you are welcome búkèqì bù —— bú

17. 拼写规则 Spelling conventions
• 两拼法： read the initial first, and then combine the
initial and the final with the tone as a whole together.
• b + ā = bā b + á = bá b + ă = bă b + à = bà
• p + āi = pāi p + ái = pái p + ăi = păi p + ài = pài
• m + ān= mān m + án = mán
m + ăn = măn m + àn = màn
• f + āng = fāng f + áng = fáng
f + ăng = făng f + àng = fàng

18. 拼写规则 Spelling conventions
• 三拼法： if the vowel sound has the middle sound, you may
pronounce the Chinese word without any pauses by combining the
consonant sound, the middle sound and vowel sound all together.
• j + iā = jiā j + iá = jiá j + iă = jiă j + ià = jià
• q + iē= qiē q + ié= qié q + iě= qiě q + iè= qiè
• x + iān = xiān x + ián = xián
• x + iăn = xiăn x + iàn = xiàn
• zh + uān = zhuān zh + uán = zhuán
• zh + uăn = zhuăn zh + uàn = zhuàn

19. 拼写规则 Spelling conventions
• 1. If the beginning of a final is “ i”, and
there are no initials in front of it, we should
add “y” or change “i” to “y”.
• i → yi ia → ya ie → ye
iao → yao iou → you
• in → yin iou → you ian → yan
iang → yang iong → yong

20. Spelling conventions
• 2. If the beginning of a final is “u”, and there are
no initials in front of it, we should add “w” or
change “u” to “w”.
• u → wu ua → wa
uo → wo uai → wai
• uei → wei uen → wen
uang → wang ueng → weng

21. Spelling conventions
• 3. If the beginning of a final is “ü”, and
there are no initials in front of it, we should
add “y” in front of it and rid the two dots
above “ü”.
• ü → yu üan → yuan ün → yun

22. Spelling conventions
• 4.2 If the beginning of a • 4.1 If the “ü” with the
final is “ü”, and with the initials like “ n, l”, the
initials like “j, q, x”, we
two dots cannot be
can omit the two dots
omitted.
above the “ü”.
• nü
• jü → ju
• qü → qu • lü
• xü → xu

23. Spelling conventions
• 5.1 When we put a initial in front of the final “
iou”, we have to change the final to “iu”.
• n + iou → niu
• 5.2 When we put a initial in front of the final “
uei”, we have to change the final to “ui”.
• k + uei → kui
• 5.3 When we put a initial in front of the final “
uen”, we have to change final to “un”.
• l + uen → lun

24. Spelling conventions
• When the syllables with
the beginnings like “ a, o,
e” connect with other
syllables, we must use the
mark ’ to separate them.
• 西安 Xī’ān
• 天鹅 tiān’é swan
• 天安门 Tiān’ānmén
• pí’ăo leather
皮袄
coat

25. Congratulations to your first step
for Chinese study!