Chinese Pinyin 中文拼音:
The pronunciation 发音 of Chinese characters has been romanized into a phonetic system called Pinyin.
A Pinyin is composed of two components: 1. the syllable 音节 2. the tone 声调
Syllable 音节:
A syllable is composed of two components: 1. the Initial 声母 2. the Final 韵母
Initial 声母
b p m f
d t n l
g k h
j q x
z c s
zh ch sh r
y w
Final 韵母
a o e
i u ü
ai ei ui
ao ou iu
ie üe er
an en in
un ün
ang eng ing ong
Tone 声调:
There are 5 pronunciation tones in the Chinese language.
- the First Tone 第一声 is spoken with a high and level pitch.
- the Second Tone 第二声 is spoken with a rising pitch.
- the Third Tone 第三声 is spoken with a dipping pitch.
- the Fourth Tone 第四声 is spoken with a falling pitch.
- the Fifth Tone 轻声 is spoken with a neutral tone.