Pinyin and tones
How pinyin spells the sounds of Mandarin: initials and finals, ü, the four tones and the neutral tone, and how the tones of 一 and 不, and of two third tones side by side, change.
Learn
Pinyin and tones, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Know what pinyin is for
Pinyin spells the sounds of Mandarin in the letters of the English alphabet, with a mark over a vowel for the tone: nǐ hǎo is how you say 你好. You use it to learn how a word sounds, to look words up, and to type: a pinyin keyboard turns what you type into characters for you to pick. In the exam you read and write characters: pinyin in a written answer can still get a message across, but it earns nothing for your Chinese.
Say the four tones and the neutral tone
Every syllable has a tone, a shape of the voice. The first tone is high and level (mā), the second rises as if asking "what?" (má), the third dips low and comes back up (mǎ) and the fourth falls sharply, like a firm "No!" (mà). A syllable with no mark is in the neutral tone: short and light, like the second syllable of 妈妈 and the question word 吗.
Hear how a tone changes the word
Two words can share every letter and differ only in tone. 买 (mǎi, third tone) means buy, but 卖 (mài, fourth) means sell, so a slip in the tone can turn a shopper into a shopkeeper. Learn each word with its tone from the start, and say it aloud as you learn it.
Read the initials, the sounds at the start of a syllable
Most initials sound much as they do in English, but a few need care. q is close to the ch in cheese (七, qī) and x to the sh in sheep (谢谢, xièxie). zh, ch and sh are said with the tongue curled back (中国, 吃, 是); z sounds like the ds in beds (再见), c like the ts in cats (菜), and r a little like the s in pleasure (人). p, t and k come with a puff of air, while b, d and g have none.
Read the finals, the vowel part of a syllable
The final is everything after the initial. Watch out for e, which sounds like the u in fur (喝, hē), and for ian, which sounds like yen (天, tiān). After z, c, s, zh, ch, sh and r, the letter i is a buzz that carries on the consonant, never an ee: 四 (sì), 是 (shì). Endings in n and ng make different words: 山 (shān, mountain) and 上 (shàng, up).
Write ü, and know when its dots are left off
ü is said like ee with your lips rounded, as in 女 (nǚ, woman) and 绿 (lǜ, green). After j, q, x and y it is written u with no dots, but it is still said ü: 去 (qù), 鱼 (yú), 学 (xué). Only after n and l do the dots stay, because there they tell two words apart: 路 (lù, road) and 绿 (lǜ).
Put the tone mark on the right vowel
The mark goes on a if there is one (hǎo, kuài), otherwise on e (běi, xiè), and on the o of ou (shǒu). In iu and ui it sits on the second vowel (liù, duì). When the mark lands on an i, it takes the place of the dot: nǐ, qī.
Change the tone of 不 and 一 as you speak
不 is fourth tone (bù), but before another fourth tone it rises to second: 不是 is said bú shì and 不对 bú duì. 一 is first tone when you count, but before a fourth tone it rises (一样 is said yí yàng) and before any other tone it falls (一起 is said yì qǐ). Dictionaries, and the pinyin in Learn, keep the first tones of both, so the change is something you say rather than write.
Say two third tones in a row
When two third tones meet, the first one rises like a second tone: 你好 is written nǐ hǎo but said ní hǎo, and 可以 is said kéyǐ. The same happens across words, so 很好 sounds like hén hǎo. Pinyin still writes both syllables with the third-tone mark.
Pinyin and tones key terms
The words the specification and the mark schemes use, each defined the way an examiner wants it.
- Pinyin
- The way Mandarin is spelled in the English alphabet, with tone marks: nǐ hǎo, xièxie. It shows the sound; the exam wants characters.
- Tone
- The rise or fall of the voice on a syllable, which can change the word: mǎi (buy) and mài (sell).
- Neutral tone
- A short, light syllable with no tone mark, such as the ma in 妈妈 or the particle 了.
- Initial
- The consonant sound a syllable starts with, such as the zh of zhōng or the q of qī.
- Final
- The rest of the syllable after the initial, such as the ong of zhōng or the ian of tiān.
- Tone mark
- The line over a vowel that shows the tone: a level line for the first, rising for the second, a dip for the third and falling for the fourth.
- ü
- An ee said with rounded lips. It keeps its dots after n and l (nǚ, lǜ) and drops them after j, q, x and y (qù).
- Tone change
- A tone said differently from the way it is written, as with 不 and 一 before a fourth tone, or the first of two third tones.
- Pinyin keyboard
- A keyboard that lets you type pinyin and then choose the characters you mean. It is how you type Chinese on a phone or computer.
Common mistakes in Pinyin and tones
The slips that cost marks year after year, and what to do instead.
Learning words without their tones, so mǎi (buy) and mài (sell) sound the same.
The tone is part of the word. Write the tone mark in your notes every time and say each new word aloud, tone and all.
Saying q and x like an English k and z, so 七 comes out as kee.
q is close to the ch in cheese and x to the sh in sheep: qī, xiè. Practise them in pairs with ch and sh until you can hear the difference.
Reading the i in 是, 四 or 吃 as ee.
After z, c, s, zh, ch, sh and r, the i just carries on the buzz of the consonant: shì, sì, chī. Say xī and shī one after the other to feel the change.
Writing two dots over the u in the pinyin of 去 or 鱼, because you hear ü in them.
After j, q, x and y the u is always ü, so the dots are left off: qù, yú, xué. Only n and l keep them: nǚ, lǜ.
Writing an answer in pinyin when you can't remember the characters.
Pinyin can carry your meaning, but it earns nothing for your Chinese. Reach first for a word you can write in characters, even a simpler one, and keep pinyin for when nothing else comes.
Practice
Try a Pinyin and tones question
A GCSE-style original question from this topic. Have a go before you open the working - deciding on an answer first is what makes the working stick.
一 on its own is yī. How is it said in 一定 (certainly)?
- yī
- yí
- yǐ
- yì
Show the answer and the working
Answer: yí
Before a fourth tone, 一 is said with a rising tone. 定 is dìng, a fourth tone, so 一定 is said yídìng.
- 一 changes its tone to suit the next syllable.
- 定 is dìng, a fourth tone.
- Before a fourth tone, 一 is said yí.