Pinyin System

 The Pinyin system is the Chinese phonetic

alphabet for transliterating Chinese characters.
 Itcan help you learn standard Mandarin
pronunciation.
 Youmay use it to type Chinese characters on
computers.

E-mail: hindmwx@gmail.com 1
The Structure of Hanyu Pinyin
 In general,a single Chinese character is equal to a
syllable.
 And one syllable in Chinese is composed of an
"Initial" and "Final" with a "Tone".

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Initials
b p m f
d t n l
g k h
j q x
z c s
zh ch sh r
y w 3
Final / Vowel

a o e i (y) u (w) ü
ai ei ui
ao ou iu
an en in un ün
ang eng ing ong
ie üe er
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Pinyin Pronunciation Tables

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 Four Tones

high5

mid-high4

middle3

mid-low2

low1

1st tone 2nd tone 3rd tone 4th tone Neutral tone

ā á ǎ à a 6
The Functions of Different Tones
 When a syllable is pronounced in different tones,
it has different meanings.
 Examples:

妈 mā mother 麻 má hemp

马 mǎ horse 骂 mà curse

我问你 I ask you 我吻你 I kiss you

Wǒ wèn nǐ. Wǒ wěn nǐ. 7
Exercise…

bā bá bǎ bà tī tí tǐ tì
mī mí mǐ mì lǖ lǘ lǚ lǜ
dē dé dě dè nā ná nǎ nà
pō pó pǒ pò lī lí lǐ lì
fā fá fǎ fà gē gé gě gè

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Greeting: How are you?
A:你 好吗？
Ní hǎo ma?
How are you?

B: 我 很 好。
Wǒ hén hǎo.
I am fine (very good). 9
Greeting: And You?
A:你 忙吗？
Ní máng ma? A: 我也不忙
Are you busy? Wó yě bù máng.
I am also not busy.
B:我 不 忙, 你呢？
Wǒ bù máng, nǐ ne?
I’m not busy, how about you?
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Tongue Twister
四 十 四，十 是 十，
Sì shì sì, shí shì shí,
Four is four, ten is ten,
十四 是 十四，四十是 四十
shísì shì shísì, sìshí shì sìshí,
forteen is forteen, forty is forty,
谁 能 分 得 清， 请 来 试 一试。
shéi néng fēn de qīng, qǐng lái shì yi shì.
who can tell these four apart, please have a try.

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 兔(tù) 子(zi) 跑(pǎo) 了(le)，
The rabbit run away,
肚(dǔ)子(zi) 饱 (bǎo) 了(le)。
The stomach is full.

红(hóng) 凤(fèng) 凰(huang)，

Red Phoenix
黄(huáng) 凤 (fèng) 凰(huang)，
Yellow Phoenix
粉(fěn)红(hóng) 墙(qiáng) 上(shàng) 画(huà) 凤(fèng) 凰(huang)。
Draw a Phoenix on a pink wall.
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