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Basics: Pronunciation

On this website, Pinyin and Zhuyin transcription are avaliable for Mandarin Chinese.

Initials

IPA	Zhuyin	Pinyin	Pronunciation
[p]	ㄅ	b	span (not aspirated)
[pʰ]	ㄆ	p	pan (aspirated)
[m]	ㄇ	m	moon
[f]	ㄈ	f	fan
[t]	ㄉ	d	stand (not aspirated)
[tʰ]	ㄊ	t	tan (aspirated)
[n]	ㄋ	n	noon
[l]	ㄌ	l	leaf
[k]	ㄍ	g	scan (not aspirated)
[kʰ]	ㄎ	k	can (aspirated)
[x]	ㄏ	h	loch (Scottish, similar to have)

IPA	Zhuyin	Pinyin	Pronunciation
[tɕ]	ㄐ	j	itchy (not aspirated)
[tɕʰ]	ㄑ	q	cheer (aspirated)
[ɕ]	ㄒ	x	she
[tʂ]	ㄓ	zh	pitcher (not aspirated)
[tʂʰ]	ㄔ	ch	church (aspirated)
[ʂ]	ㄕ	sh	show
[ʐ]	ㄖ	r	pleasure
[ts]	ㄗ	z	pizza (not aspirated)
[tsʰ]	ㄘ	c	tsunami (aspirated)
[s]	ㄙ	s	see

Finals

IPA	Zhuyin	Pinyin	Pronunciation
[ɿ]		i ¹ (si)	voiced release of the initial
[ʅ]		i ² (shi)	shirt (US English)
[a]	ㄚ	a	father
[aɪ̯]	ㄞ	ai	eye
[aʊ̯]	ㄠ	ao	cow
[an]	ㄢ	an	ban (British English)
[ɑŋ]	ㄤ	ang	father + song
[ɤ] ³	ㄜ	e	her
[eɪ̯]	ㄟ	ei	hey
[oʊ̯]	ㄡ	ou	so
[ən]	ㄣ	en	taken
[ɤŋ]	ㄥ	eng	lung
[əɻ]	ㄦ	er	are (US English)

IPA	Zhuyin	Pinyin		Pronunciation
					Inital	Medial
1
[i]	ㄧ	yi	i	bee
[i̯a]	ㄧㄚ	ya	ia	yard
2ㄚ
[i̯aʊ̯]	ㄧㄠ	yao	iao	yowl
[i̯ɛn]	ㄧㄢ	yan	ian	yen
[i̯ɑŋ]	ㄧㄤ	yang	iang	y + Pinyin ang
[i̯ɛ]	ㄧㄝ	ye	ie	yet
3ㄚ
[i̯oʊ̯]	ㄧㄡ	you	iu	yoke
[in]	ㄧㄣ	yin	in	seen
[iɤ̯ŋ]	ㄧㄥ	ying	ing	thing
4ㄚ

IPA	Zhuyin	Pinyin		Pronunciation
					Inital	Medial
[u]	ㄨ	wu	u	too
[u̯a]	ㄨㄚ	wa	ua	w + father
[u̯aɪ̯]	ㄨㄞ	wai	uai	why
[u̯an]	ㄨㄢ	wan	uan	w + ban
[u̯ɑŋ]	ㄨㄤ	wang	uang	w + ang
[u̯ɔ]	ㄨㄛ	wo	uo ⁴	water
[u̯ɔ]	ㄛ	wo	o ⁴	water
[u̯eɪ̯]	ㄨㄟ	wei	ui	way
[u̯ən]	ㄨㄣ	wen	un	one
[ʊŋ]	ㄨㄥ	ㄨㄨ	ong	book + song
[u̯ɤŋ]	ㄨㄥ	weng	ㄨ	w + Pinyin eng

IPA	Zhuyin	Pinyin		Pronunciation
					Inital	Medial
[y]	ㄩ	yu	ü ⁵	French u or German ü
1ㄚ
2ㄚ
[y̯ɛn]	ㄩㄢ	yuan	üan ⁵	Pinyin ü + yen
3ㄚ
[y̯œ]	ㄩㄝ	yue	üe ⁵	Pinyin ü + yet
4ㄚ
5ㄚ
[yn]	ㄩㄣ	yun	ün ⁵	Pinyin ü + n
[i̯ʊŋ]	ㄩㄥ	yong	iong	y + ong
6ㄚ

1)  [ɿ] only occurs following z, c or s  –  [i] never occurs following these consonants.

2)  [ʅ] only occurs following zh, ch, sh or r  –  [i] never occurs following these consonants.

3)  In unstressed syllables (neutral tone), e is pronounced as [ə].

4)  Following b, p, m or f, [u̯ɔ] is written o, but uo elsewhere.

5)  Following j, q or x, ü is written as u  –  The sound [u] never occurs after these consonants.

Tones

Contour	Zhuyin	Pinyin		Pronunciation
		Number	Tone mark
		1	ā	high level (even)
	ˊ	2	á	high rising (mid to high)
	ˇ	3 (h)	ǎ	low level (slightly falling)
	ˇ	3 (f)		falling-rising (long)
	ˋ	4	à	falling (short)
	˙	5 / 0 (n)	a	very short and light

h)  half 3rd tone          f)  full 3rd tone          n)  neutral tone

Tone sandhi

Tone sandhi means, that the tone of some syllables changes under certain circumstances.

3rd tone

Condition	Realisation		Example
• preceding other 3rd tone	like 2nd tone		你好 nǐhǎo
• preceding 1st, 2nd, 4th or 5th tone	half 3rd tone		老师 lǎoshī
• isolated or final	full 3rd tone		好 hǎo

4th tone

Condition	Realisation		Example
• preceding other 4th tone	half 4th tone		再见 zàijiàn
• preceding 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 5th tone	4th tone (unchanged)		照片 zhàopiān
• isolated or final

Neutral tone

Condition	Realisation		Example
• following 1st tone	[˨] near-low		他们 tāmen
• following 2nd tone	[˧] mid		来了 lái le
• following 3rd tone	[˦] near-high		好吗 hǎo ma
• following 4th tone	[˩] low		是的 shìde

The character 不 (not)

The character 一 (one)