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
- Words are written together, without spaces between syllables:
Examples:
kāfēi (咖啡, coffee)
míngtiān (明天, tomorrow)
bùhǎoyìsi (不好意思, excuse me)
- The first letter of the first word in a sentence is capitalized:
Examples:
Wǒ hē kāfēi. (我喝咖啡, I drink coffee.)
Xībānyá yǒu hěn duō gǒu. (西班牙有很多狗, There are many dogs in Spain.)
- Proper nouns and names are capitalized:
Examples:
Rìběn (日本, Japan)
Běijīng (北京, Beijing)
Lǐ míngwén (李明文, a name)
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)
In many Chinese IMEs: Typing “v” is the standard way to input ü.
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)
