CONSONANTS 

(23 Initials)

Pronunciation

VOWELS 

(34 Finals)

Pronunciation

There are four tones which are used when pronuncing Chinese characters.

The tones are indicated in Pinyin by placing one of these symbols above a vowel. Sometimes instead of a symbol above a vowel the corresponding tone number is written at the end of the Pinyin word.

eg

     we           are     all    students

 wo3-men dou1 shi4 xue2-sheng

       we        are     all     students

If a different tone is used, then the word will have a different meaning, or no meaning at all.

Each character is mono-syllabic, with a basic meaning. By combining characters in different ways makes different words. The same character combinations in sentences can make different words depending on the characters used in front or behind. Therefore the easiest way to learn the characters and words are in sentence structures.

B

C

CH

D

F

G

H

J

K

L

M

N

P

Q

R

S

SH

T

W

X

Y

Z

ZH 

b  (boo)

ts  (its)

ch  (chilly)

d  (door)

f  (fan)

ger  (gun (not gen))

h  (her or how)

jer  (jenny or gen)

k  (kite)

l  (lie)

m  (ma)

n  (need)

p  (poor)

ch  (cheese or chin)

r  (run)

s  (say)

sh  (shy)

t  (tore)

w  (way)

sh  (sheet)

y  (yell)

ds  (adds...'zai jian')

j  (jelly)

A

AI

AN

ANG

AO

E

EI

EN

ENG

ER

I

IA

IAN

IAO

IE

IU

IN

ING

IANG

IONG

O

ONG

OU

U

UA

UAI

UAN

UANG

UI

UN

UO

UE

ü

üe

argh

i

an

ang (ung)

a-owe

er

a

en

eng (ung)

r

er  (sir)  Ci    &

ee (tea)  Di

ear

ian

e-owe

e-er

e-owe

e-in

ing

e-ang

e-ong

ore

ong

owe

oo (loo)

o-ar

why

wharn

wharng

owe-e

un

owe-er

owe-air

oo

oo-air