Pinyin
What you'll learn How Chinese is written in letters, the few sounds that aren't English, and how a syllable is spelled.
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1 Letters for sounds
Chinese is written in characters, and a character doesn't say how it sounds. So learners, and Chinese children, read it in pinyin: the sounds spelled in the Latin alphabet, with a mark for the tone.
Each syllable is a beginning, an ending and a tone. 妈媽 is mā: m, then a, said high and level. Most of the letters sound much as they do in English.
2 The letters that aren't English
These are the ones that don't sound as they look.
| pinyin | sounds like | as in |
|---|---|---|
| x | between the s of see and the sh of she | 谢谢謝謝 xièxie |
| q | the ch of cheese, the tongue low | 七 qī |
| j | the j of jeep, the tongue low | 几幾 jǐ |
| zh | the j of jump, the tongue curled back | 中国中國 Zhōngguó |
| ch | the ch of church, the tongue curled back | 吃 chī |
| sh | the sh of shop, the tongue curled back | 是 shì |
| r | a little like the s of pleasure | 人 rén |
| c | the ts of cats | 菜 cài |
| z | the ds of kids | 字 zì |
| ü | ee, said with rounded lips | 女 nǚ |
3 Sounds to tell apart
Some of these come in pairs that English hears as one sound. The tongue makes the difference. For j, q and x, its tip is low, behind the bottom teeth. For z, c and s, it touches behind the top teeth. For zh, ch and sh, it is curled back.
| letters | the first | the second |
|---|---|---|
| j and zh | 几幾 jǐ, how many | 只 zhǐ, only |
| q and ch | 七 qī, seven | 吃 chī, to eat |
| x and sh | 小 xiǎo, small | 少 shǎo, few |
| z and zh | 早 zǎo, early | 找 zhǎo, to look for |
| c and ch | 草 cǎo, grass | 炒 chǎo, to stir-fry |
| s and sh | 四 sì, four | 是 shì, to be |
| ü and u | 绿綠 lǜ, green | 路 lù, road |
4 How a syllable is spelled
A syllable that begins with i, u or ü is written with a y or a w: 一 yī, 五 wǔ, 鱼魚 yú.
After j, q, x and y, ü is written u, since u never comes there: 去 qù, 鱼魚 yú. Only after n and l, where both can, does it keep its dots: 女 nǚ, 绿綠 lǜ.
The tone mark goes on the a or the e, if the syllable has one: 好 hǎo, 谢謝 xiè. In ou it goes on the o: 走 zǒu. Otherwise it goes on the last vowel: 六 liù, 贵貴 guì.