Tutorial overviewLesson 1 of 3
Pinyin is the official system for writing Chinese sounds with Latin letters. It's not how Chinese is "really written" — that's what characters are for — but it's how every learner (and every Chinese child) first learns to pronounce the language.
The good news: pinyin has clear rules, and once you know them you can read the pronunciation of any Chinese word.
Every Chinese syllable has up to three parts: an initial (the starting consonant), a final (the vowel part), and a tone (the little mark over a vowel). Here is the most famous greeting in the world, broken down:
There are 21 initials in total. These eight are enough to see how they work — including a few that don't exist in English:
| Pinyin | Sounds like | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| b | like “b” in “bay”, but softer — no puff of air | bā八(eight) | |
| m | like “m” in “mother” | mā妈(mother) | |
| h | like “h” in “hot”, slightly rougher | hē喝(to drink) | |
| sh | like “sh” in “ship”, tongue curled back | shū书(book) | |
| zh | like “j” in “judge”, tongue curled back | zhōng中(middle) | |
| x | like a soft “sh” said while smiling, lips spread wide | xiǎo小(small) | |
| q | like a soft “ch” said while smiling, lips spread wide | qī七(seven) | |
| c | like “ts” in “cats” | cài菜(vegetable, dish) |
Finals are the vowel sounds that follow the initial. There are around 36 combinations; here are six of the most common:
| Pinyin | Sounds like | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | like “a” in “father” | mā妈(mother) | |
| o | like “o” in “more”, lips rounded | wǒ我(I, me) | |
| e | an unrounded “uh”, like “her” without the r | hē喝(to drink) | |
| i | like “ee” in “see” | yī一(one) | |
| u | like “oo” in “food” | shū书(book) | |
| ao | like “ow” in “cow” | hǎo好(good) |
These letters don't sound like you'd expect from English. Listen to them a few times — recognizing them is half the battle:
like “j” in “judge”, tongue curled back
zhōng 中 — middle
like a soft “sh” said while smiling, lips spread wide
xiǎo 小 — small
like a soft “ch” said while smiling, lips spread wide
qī 七 — seven
like “ts” in “cats”
cài 菜 — vegetable, dish
You may have noticed the little marks over the vowels (ǐ, ǎo). Those are tones — and they completely change a word's meaning.