Hanyu Pinyin is the official romanization system for Mandarin Chinese in mainland China, used to represent the sounds of Chinese characters using the Latin alphabet. Here are some basic rules for using Hanyu Pinyin:
Pinyin Spelling Rules – Spacing and Capital Letters
In Pinyin, Chinese words containing multiple characters are written without spaces between syllables, and separate words are spaced. This makes it easier for others to tell words apart in sentences. Additionally, it is recommended to capitalize the first letter of a sentence and the first letters of proper nouns.
今天爸爸要去谷歌公司上班
Jīntiān bàba yào qù Gǔgē gōngsī shàngbān.
Lit. Today Dad will go Google company work.
(Dad is going to work at Google today.)
Pinyin Spelling Rules – Special
- If the syllable contains “uo” following “b”, “p”, “m”, or “f”, the “u” is dropped, resulting in “bo”, “po”, “mo”, or “fo”.
Examples:
bó (伯; uncle)
fó (佛; Buddha)
mō (摸; touch)
- If the syllable contains “ü” following “j”, “q”, or “x”, the two dots are dropped.
Examples:
xuě (雪; snow)
jǔ (举; lift)
qù (去; go)
Pinyin Spelling Rules – Tones
The following are the rules for using tone marks in Hanyu Pinyin:
- For syllables with one vowel letter, the tone mark is always on the vowel letter.
Examples:
dì (地; land)
shù (树; tree)
shān (山; mountain)
- For syllables with two or three vowel letters:
- If the first vowel letter is not a medial (ie. “i”, “u”, or “ü”), the tone mark is always on the first vowel letter.
Examples:
gǒu (狗; dog)
lǎo (老; old)
māo (猫; cat)
- If the first vowel letter is a medial, the tone mark will be marked on the second vowel letter.
Examples:
xué (学; learn)
jiào (叫; call)
jiǔ (酒; alcohol)
- If the tone mark is on “i”, the dot of “i” has to be omitted.
Examples:
xī (西; west)
lí (梨; pear)
zhǐ (纸; paper)
Pinyin Spelling Rules – “i”, “u”, “ü”
- When syllables start with the “i” sound, replace “i” with “y”.
Examples:
iáng ➡ yáng (羊; sheep)
yào ➡ yào (要; want)
yòng ➡ yòng (用; use)
Exceptions:
- For the single vowel “i”, and the nasals “in” and “ing”, “y” is added before “i”, resulting in “yi”, “yin”, and “ying”;
- Spell “you” for “iu” when it is alone.
Examples:
yī (一; one)
yìng (硬; hard)
yǒu (有; have)
- When syllables start with the “u” sound, replace “u” with “w”.
Examples:
uǎn ➡ wǎn (碗; bowl)
uài ➡ wài (外; outside)
uǎng ➡ wǎng (网; net)
Exceptions:
- For the single vowel “u”, “w” is added before “u”, resulting in “wu”
- Spell “wen” for “un” when it is alone.
- Spell “wei” for “ui” when it is alone.
Examples:
wēn (温; warm)
wèi (胃; stomach)
- When syllables start with “ü”, replace “ü” with “yu”.
Examples:
ǚ ➡ yǔ (雨; rain)
ǚn ➡ yún (云; cloud)
ǚan ➡ yuǎn (远; far)
Pinyin Spelling Rules – Ending “r”
The “er” (儿) sound can follow finals to from retroflections. Add “r” at the end of the syllable in this case.
Examples:
yidiǎnr (一点儿; a little)
fànguǎnr (饭馆儿; restaurant)
huār (花儿; flowers)