Pinyin reference
The building blocks of Mandarin pronunciation — initials, finals, tones, and the rules that connect them. Tap any syllable to hear it.
Initials
The consonant sounds that can start a syllable. Tap a cell to hear a demo syllable.
Finals
The vowel (and vowel + n/ng) sounds that end a syllable. Tap a cell to hear a demo syllable.
The four tones — and the neutral tone
Mandarin uses pitch to tell words apart. Same syllable "ma", five different words. Tap a card to hear it.
Where does the tone mark go?
When a syllable has more than one vowel, the mark always lands on the same one, following this priority: a e/o the last vowel of i/u/ü. For the pairs iu and ui specifically, the mark goes on the second vowel instead of the first. A tone mark written over i drops the dot: ī í ǐ ì.
Tone changes (tone sandhi)
Tones sometimes shift when syllables collide — the tone you write isn't always the tone you say.
Third-tone sandhi
Two 3rd tones in a row? The first is spoken as a 2nd tone, even though it's still written as a 3rd.
一 (yī) changes tone
一 is yī on its own. Before a 4th-tone syllable it becomes yí; before a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd-tone syllable it becomes yì.
不 (bù) changes tone
不 is bù by default, but before a 4th-tone syllable it becomes bú.
The neutral tone
Some syllables — grammatical particles, the second half of a repeated word — lose their tone entirely. They're spoken short and light, with no tone mark at all.
Ü versus u
Ü is a distinct vowel from u — nǚ (女, woman) is not nǔ (努, to strive). After j, q, x, and y the umlaut is dropped in writing (ju, qu, xu, yu), because those sounds never combine with a plain u — but it's still pronounced ü.
Erhua (儿化)
Adding 儿 to the end of a word colors the final with an r-sound, especially in Beijing speech — 花 (huā, flower) becomes 花儿 (huār).
How initials and finals combine
Pinyin spelling changes at the seams — the sound stays the same, only the letters shift.
Stand-alone i, u, ü get y/w
With no initial, i- syllables are written with y (yi, ye, yao), u- with w (wu, wo, wai), and ü becomes yu.
j, q, x drop the umlaut
After j, q, x the vowel written u is ALWAYS really ü — ju, qu, xu sound like jü, qü, xü. These initials never combine with a true u.
iou, uei, uen contract
After an initial they are spelled -iu, -ui, -un, but the hidden middle vowel is still pronounced: liu = li(o)u, gui = gu(e)i.
b, p, m, f + o
Only b, p, m, f combine directly with o (bo, po, mo, fo) — there's a faint w-glide inside: bo sounds like b(u)o.
Tone numbers ↔ tone marks
Typing pinyin with numbers (ni3 hao3) is common online and in input methods. Type below to see the tone-mark version — v stands for ü.
nǐ hǎo, wǒ shì xuéshēng
For Indonesian speakers
Where Indonesian phonology helps you, and where it quietly sabotages you.
Your p/t/k are pinyin b/d/g
Indonesian p, t, k have no puff of air — exactly like pinyin b, d, g. Pinyin p, t, k need a strong burst (hold a tissue in front of your mouth: it should move).
Sounds Indonesian doesn't have
zh/ch/sh/r curl the tongue tip back; ü is an i with rounded lips (no Indonesian equivalent); z/c are sharp 'dz/ts' sounds.
Sounds you already own
Final -ng (senang), pure vowels a/i/u (anak, ini, itu), and ny — Indonesian gives you a cleaner start here than English speakers get.
Tones: the real gap
Indonesian uses pitch for emotion, never for meaning — so your instinct is to ignore it. In Mandarin, pitch IS the word: mā, má, mǎ, mà are four different words.