Pinyin — Reading Chinese in Roman Letters
Pinyin is the official romanization of Mandarin. Learn initials (b, p, m, f…), finals (a, o, e, i, u, ü…), and how tones are marked above vowels. This is the key to pronunciation.
A lesson of Mandarin Chinese A1 — Beginner, in Tones & Pinyin, about 10 minutes.
By the end of this lesson, you will read and write any Mandarin syllable using the pinyin romanization system.
What Is Pinyin?
Pinyin (拼音 pīnyīn — "spelled sounds") is the official romanization of Mandarin Chinese, adopted in 1958. It uses the Latin alphabet plus tone marks to represent every syllable in Mandarin.
Pinyin is not how Chinese is written in everyday life — that's characters. But pinyin is:
- How Chinese children learn pronunciation in school
- How you type Chinese on a phone or computer
- How dictionaries are organized
- How you should learn the sounds before tackling characters
The Structure of a Pinyin Syllable
Every Mandarin syllable has this structure:
(Initial) + Final + Tone
- Initial: the consonant at the beginning (optional — some syllables start with a vowel)
- Final: the vowel or vowel+consonant at the end
- Tone: marked over the main vowel
Example: shū = sh (initial) + u (final) + 1st tone
The Initials (声母 shēngmǔ)
| Symbol | Sound | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| b | like English "b" | |
| p | like "p" — but aspirated (burst of air) | Put your hand in front of your mouth — feel the puff |
| m | like "m" | |
| f | like "f" | |
| d | like "d" | |
| t | like "t" — aspirated | |
| n | like "n" | |
| l | like "l" | |
| g | like "g" | |
| k | like "k" — aspirated | |
| h | like "h" but slightly more guttural | |
| j | like "j" in "jeep" but no lip rounding |