你 + 好
你好
Alphabets
The Chinese alphabet 拼音
Meet every letter of the Chinese alphabet, hear how it sounds and see it in simple words.
About Chinese
Chinese is written with characters, not an alphabet – but to type and learn it you use Pinyin (拼音). A Mandarin syllable is made of an initial such as m or zh, a final such as a or ang, and a tone, written as a mark over the vowel: mā (mother) and mǎ (horse) are different words. There are 21 initials and about 36 finals, so Mandarin has only some 400 different syllables – the four tones make about 1,300.
- 21
- initials 声母
- 36
- finals 韵母
- 4
- tones 声调
- L → R
- writing direction
Finals 韵母
The six basic vowels of Pinyin. Many finals are built from them: ai, ao, an, ang, ong… Tap a letter to hear it.
The four tones
First tone – high and level.
Second tone – rising, like a question.
Third tone – dips down and up.
Fourth tone – sharp and falling.
Initials 声母
The 21 consonants that begin a syllable, grouped by where they are made. Tap a letter to hear it.
Lips b p m f
made with the lips
Tongue tip d t n l
tongue behind the upper teeth
Back of the tongue g k h
made at the back of the mouth
Front of the tongue j q x
tongue flat against the palate
Curled tongue zh ch sh r
tongue curled back
Flat tongue z c s
tongue behind the lower teeth
y and w are written at the start of syllables that begin with i or u: yī (一, one), wǔ (五, five).
How letters join to make words
A Chinese syllable is an initial, a final and a tone – and each syllable is written with one character.
-
1
Initial + final = syllable
Put a consonant before a final: m + a = ma.
m +a =ma -
2
The tone changes the meaning
The same syllable with another tone is another word: mā (妈, mother), mǎ (马, horse).
ma +◌̌ =mǎ -
3
One syllable, one character
Each syllable is written with a character: nǐ (你) + hǎo (好) = 你好 (hello).
你 +好 =你好
Where does the tone mark go?
On a or e
hǎo méi
If the final has a or e, the mark goes there.
On o of ou
gǒu
In ou, the mark goes on the o.
Otherwise
shuǐ liù
On the last vowel.
Build real words
中 + 国
中国
中 + 文
中文
谢 + 谢
谢谢
朋 + 友
朋友
学 + 校
学校
Good to know
No tones when typing
Type zhongguo without tones – the suggestions offer 中国.
Tones matter
Say mā má mǎ mà slowly to hear the four tones.
Radicals
Many characters share a part that hints at the meaning: 氵 (water) in 河 (river), 海 (sea).
Ready to type in Chinese?
Use the on-screen keyboard to write these letters, or translate your first sentence.