How to Read Pinyin

Reading Pinyin is not really so difficult as the alphabet only has 63 letters. If you pay close attention, you can memorize the sounds in less than a couple days.

Introduction to Pinyin

Pinyin is the romanized spelling of Chinese character sounds. They have both initial and final sounds. The finals sound loud while the initials are a bit quieter. The finals are divided into two groups: single finals and compound finals. The single finals contain only one vowel. The compound finals contain several vowels or a combination of vowel sounds.
Once you learn the sounds of the individual letters and the combinations in pinyin, you can really speed up your Chinese learning pace. Contact us at Hanbridge to jumpstart your Chinese learning with a free trial class.

Pinyin table with tones

ā	á	ǎ	à	āng	áng	ǎng	àng	iū	iú	iǔ	iù
ē	é	ě	è	ēng	éng	ěng	èng	iē	ié	iě	iè
ī	í	ǐ	ì	īng	íng	ǐng	ìng	üē	üé	üě	üè
ō	ó	ǒ	ò	ōng	óng	ǒng	òng	er
ē	é	ě	è	b	P	m	f	ān	án	ǎn	àn
ǖ	ǘ	ǚ	ǜ	d	T	n	l	ēn	én	ěn	èn
āi	ái	ǎi	ài	g	K	h		īn	ín	ǐn	ìn
ēi	éi	ěi	èi	j	Q	x		ūn	ún	ǔn	ùn
uī	uí	uǐ	uì	zh	Ch	sh	r	ǖn	ǘn	ǚn	ǜn
āo	áo	ǎo	ào	z	C	s
ōu	óu	ǒu	òu	y	W

Combination of Pinyin

a

o

e

i

u

ü

ai

ei

ui

ao

ou

Iu

ie

üe

er

b

ba

bo

bi

bu

bai

bei

bao

bie

p

pa

po

pi

pu

pai

pei

pao

pou

pie

m

ma

mo

me

mi

mu

mai

mei

mao

mou

miu

mie

f

fa

fo

fu

fei

fou

d

da

de

di

du

dai

dei

dui

dao

dou

Diu

die

t

ta

te

ti

tu

tai

tui

tao

tou

tie

n

na

ne

ni

nu

nü

nai

nei

nao

nou

niu

nie

nue

l

la

le

li

lu

lü

lai

lei

lao

lou

liu

lie

lue

g

ga

ge

gu

gai

gei

hui

gao

gou

k

ka

ke

ku

kai

kui

kao

kou

h

ha

he

hu

hai

hui

hao

hou

j

ji

ju

jiu

jie

jue

q

qi

qu

qiu

qie

que

x

xi

xu

xiu

xie

xue

zh

zha

zhe

zhi

zhu

zhai

zhui

zhao

zhou

ch

cha

che

chi

chu

chai

chui

chao

chou

sh

sha

she

shi

shu

shia

shei

shui

shao

shou

r

re

ri

ru

z

za

ze

zi

zu

zai

zei

zui

zao

zou

c

ca

ce

ci

cu

cai

cui

cao

cou

s

sa

se

si

su

sai

sui

sao

sou

y

ya

ye

yi

yu

yao

you

yue

w

wa

wo

wu

wai

wei

	an	en	in	Un	ün	ang	eng	ing	ong
b	ban	ben	bin			bang	beng	bing
p	pan	pen	pin			pang	peng	ping
m	man		min			mang	meng	ming
f	fan	fen	nin			fang	feng
d	dan			dun		dang	deng	ding	dong
t	tan			tun		tang	teng	ting	tong
n	nan	nen	nin			nang	neng	ning	nong
l	lan		lin	lun		lang	leng	ling	long
g	gan	gen		gun		gang			gong
k	kan	ken		kun		kang	keng		kong
h	han	hen		hun		hang	heng		hong
j			jin		jun			jing
q			qin		qun			qing
x			xin		xun			xing
zh	zhan	zhen		zhun		zhang	zheng		zhong
ch	chan	chen		chun		chang	cheng		chong
sh	shan	shen		shun		shang	sheng
r	ran					rang	reng		rong
z	zan	zen				zang	zeng		zong
c	can	cen				cang	ceng		cong
s	san	sen							song
y	yan		yin		yun	yang		ying	yong
w	wan	wen				wang	weng

Three Spelling Syllable Table

	ia	iao	ian	iang	iong	ua	uo	uai	uan	uang	Üan
b		biao	bian
p		piao	pian
m		miao	mian
f
d		diao	dian				duo		duan
t		tiao	tian				tuo		tuan
n		niao	nian	niang			nuo		nuan
l		liao	lian	liang			luo		luan
g						gua	guo	guai	guan	guang
k						kua	kuo	kuai	kuan	kuang
h						hua	huo	huai	huan	huang
j	jia	jiao	jian	jiang	jiong						juan
q	qia	qiao	qian	qiang	qiong						quan
x	xia	xiao	xian	xiang	xiong						xuan
zh						zhua	zhuo	zhuai	zhuan	zhuang
ch						chua	chuo	chuai	chuan	chuang
sh						shua	shuo	shuai	shuan	shuang
r							ruo		ruan
z							zuo		zuan
c							cuo		cuan
s							suo		suan
y											yuan
w

In Chinese, a syllable is formed by combining the initial sound with the final, the content at the beginning of syllable is initial, and the remain part is known as the final.
There are 21 initials and 38 finals.
The finals connect with the Intitial sounds to create the one syllable words that are the basis of the Chinese language.
Although all Chinese words are one syllable, they are often combined to create terms made from several words.