Introduction
Chinese syllables have three parts: an initial, a final, and a tone.
Initial | Final | Tone | Syllable | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
他 | ㄊ t | ㄚ a | ˉ | ㄊㄚˉ tā | |
明 | ㄇ m | ㄧㄥ ing | ˊ | ㄇㄧㄥˊ míng | |
好 | ㄏ h | ㄠ ao | ˇ | ㄏㄠˇ hǎo | |
不 | ㄅ b | ㄨ u | ˋ | ㄅㄨˋ bù |
Initials
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ㄅ
bㄆ
pㄇ
mㄈ
fㄉ
dㄊ
tㄋ
nㄌ
lㄍ
gㄎ
kㄏ
hㄐ
jㄑ
qㄒ
xㄓ
zhㄔ
chㄕ
shㄖ
rㄗ
zㄘ
cㄙ
sFinals
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ㄚ
aㄞ
aiㄢ
anㄤ
angㄠ
aoㄛ
oㄡ
ouㄨㄥ
ongㄩㄥ
iongㄜ
eㄟ
eiㄣ
enㄥ
engㄦ
erㄧ
iㄧㄝ
ieㄧㄣ
inㄧㄥ
ingㄧㄡ
iuㄨ
uㄨㄟ
uiㄨㄣ
unㄨㄛ
uoㄩ
üㄩㄝ
üeㄩㄣ
ünㄩㄢ
üanㄧㄚ
iaㄧㄢ
ianㄧㄤ
iangㄧㄠ
iaoㄨㄚ
uaㄨㄞ
uaiㄨㄢ
uanㄨㄤ
uangTones
Chinese is a tonal language. Syllables that differ only in tones can have different meanings.
There are four main tones and a neutral tone.
Tone | Zhuyin | Hanzi | Meaning | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | high | ˉ | ㄇㄚ mā | 媽 | mother | |
2 | rising | ˊ | ㄇㄚˊ má | 麻 | hemp | |
3 | low | ˇ | ㄇㄚˇ mǎ | 馬 | horse | |
4 | falling | ˋ | ㄇㄚˋ mà | 駡 | scold | |
5 | neutral | ˙ | ㄇㄚ˙ ma | 嗎 | [question particle] | |
In zhuyin, the first (high) tone is usually not marked.
Audio courtesy of the AllSet Learning Chinese Pronunciation Wiki, used with permission.