Pinyin | 123SpeakChinese

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Step 1: Learn how to read PinYin

Pinyin is a way of writing Chinese using the Roman Alphabet. Although there are a few similarities, it is important to realize that quite a few Pinyin letters are pronounced differently than in English.
See the phonetic guides below.

Vowels

Pinyin	English Equivalent
a	father
an	fun
ang	sung
e	fern
en	broken
eng	like en but with ng at the end
eng (after f)	long
i	peel
i (after c,s or z)	girl
i (after ch,sh,zh or r)	r in Grrr
in	pin
ing	ping
o	more
ong	long
u	book
un	tune
ü ( and u after q, j or x)	new

notes: when i is written at the beginning of a syllable, it changes to y.      i+a    ya
          when u is written at the beginning of a syllable, it changes to w.    u+o   wo
         when u is written as a single syllable, it's written as wu.                       u   wu
          when in is written as a single syllable, it's written as yin.                     in   yin
          when ing is written as a single syllable, it's written as ying.              ing ying

Consonants (Initials)

Pinyin	English Equivalent
b	book
d	door
f	four
g	goat
h	he
k	kit
l	lamp
m	man
n	nose
ng	sing
p	pan
r	run, pleasure
t	time
y	yellow
zh	gem
ch	church
sh	shop
z	kids
c	its
s	sum
j	jeep
q	chop
x	sheet

Combinations

Pinyin	English Equivalent
ai	I
ao	our
ei	may
ia	yard
ian	yen
iang	young
iao	yowl
ie	yes
iong	jung
iu	yolk
ou	low
ua	wah!
uai	why
uan	won
uan (after j, q, x or y)	went
uang	swung
ue	yeah
ui	way
uo	war