LESSON NOTES

Chinese Pinyin System

Pinyin was introduced in 1958, it uses a Roman alphabet to transcribe the Mandarin Chinese pronunciations. Pinyin Syllables helps us learn and memorize the pronunciation of Chinese Characters.

If we know how to spell and type Pinyin, we’ll be able to pronounce and type out every Chinese Character.

Chinese Pinyin Syllable

A Chinese Pinyin Syllable can have three parts, Initial + Final + Tone. But sometimes, there can be no Initial (Chinese Syllables with Zero-Initials), or no Tone (Chinese Syllables with the Neutral Tone). But there is definitely a Final.

Chinese Pinyin Alphabet Guide

There are 21 Chinese Initials, and 36 Chinese Finals in the Chinese Pinyin Alphabet. The Finals can then be divided in to 3 groups: Simple Finals; Compound Finals; and Nasal Finals.

21 Chinese Initials

Initials are Consonants, and an Initial always goes at the very beginning of the Syllable, if there is one.

b p m f d t n l g k h j q x z c s zh ch sh r

36 Chinese Finals

Finals are mostly vowels, or stars with a vowel. In a Chinese Pinyin Syllable, the Final goes at the very end. There are 6 Chinese Simple Finals, 13 Chinese Compound Finals and 16 Chinese Nasal Finals.

6 Chinese Simple Finals

a o e i u ü

13 Chinese Compound Finals

ai ei ao ou ia ie ua uo üe iao iou uai uei

16 Chinese Nasal Finals