Hanyu Pinyin

A brief Introduction to Chinese Phonetics

音节 Syllables

• One syllable is one characterwŏ我

Běi jīng 北 京

Wŏ xuéxí hànyŭ我 学习 汉语

The structure of a syllable

声母： Initial 韵母： Final声调： Tone

北京 Běi jīng Initial Final Tone北 B ei ˇ京 J ing ˉ

声母 Initials

韵母 Finals

声调 Tones

• − 一声 the 1st tone 55 high-level• ∕ 二声 the 2nd tone 35 rising• ∨ 三声 the 3rd tone 214 rising and

falling• ﹨ 四声 the 4th tone 51 falling

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声调 Tones

• 网吧——王八

• 山西——陕西

• 打算——大蒜

• 狮子——柿子

wǎng bā -wángba

shānxī --shǎnxī

dǎsuàn --dàsuàn

shīzi --shìzi

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 )

轻声 Light tone/neutral tone

爸爸 bàba father孩子 háizi child东西 dōngxi things回来 huílai come back尝尝 chángchang have a taste

• 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

声调 Tones

零声母 Zero Initials

• ōu zhōu 欧洲 Europe

• ào yùn hùi 奥运会 Olympics games

• ài 爱 love ， to love

-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

the changes of 3rd tone（ 3rd tone 2nd tone)

• ∨+ = ∕+ ∨ ∨你好 hello nĭhăo （ níhăo ）

水果 fruit shuĭguǒ （ shuíguǒ）很好 very good hĕnhăo （ hénhăo）

the changes of 3rd tone(3rd tone half 3rd tone)

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• ∨+ − 、 ∕ 、 ﹨、○

= + −∨ 、 ∕ 、 ﹨、○

Notes ： Half third tone is different with fourth tone. It begins lower.

好吃 taste good hǎochī好人 good man hǎorén好看 look good hǎokàn

喜欢 to like xǐhuan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spelling conventions• 4.2 If the beginning of a

final is “ü”, and with the initials like “j, q, x”, we can omit the two dots above the “ü”.

• jü → ju • qü → qu • xü → xu

• 4.1 If the “ü” with the initials like “ n, l”, the two dots cannot be omitted.

• nü • lü

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

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 • 皮袄 pí’ăo leather

coat

Congratulations to your first step for Chinese study!