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Pinyin & Pronunciation

Tones, sounds and romanization

Pinyin spells the sounds

Pinyin romanizes pronunciation; it shows how characters sound, not what they mean.

💬 Examples
你好
nǐ hǎo
hello
📝 Pinyin shows the pronunciation of characters
谢谢
xièxie
thank you
📝 Each syllable is written as one character
The four tones

Mandarin has four tones (plus neutral); the tone changes the meaning.

📊 The four tones
Tone Example Char Meaning
1st (high level) mā 妈 mother
2nd (rising) má 麻 hemp
3rd (dipping) mǎ 马 horse
4th (falling) mà 骂 scold
💬 Examples
妈 麻 马 骂
mā má mǎ mà
mother, hemp, horse, scold
📝 One syllable, four tones, four meanings
好
hǎo
good
📝 Third tone: dips down then rises
Initials and finals

Each syllable = an initial (consonant) + a final (vowel part) + a tone.

💬 Examples
中国
Zhōngguó
China
📝 zh- initial, -ong final
学习
xuéxí
to study
📝 x- initial, -ue final