1. Tone Marks
(1) Syllables with one vowel letter:
The tone mark is always on the vowel letter.
Examples:
lǜ (綠; green)
zhī (知; know)
shān (山; mountain)
tīng (聽; listen)
(2) Syllables with two or three vowel letters:
(i) If the first vowel letter is a medial, namely, "i", "u", or "ü", the tone mark is on the vowel letter immediately following the medial.
Examples:
jiāo (教; teach)
lüè (略; strategy)
jiǔ (九; nine)
guì (貴; expensive)
(ii) If the first vowel letter is not a medial, the tone mark is always on the first vowel letter.
Examples:
hǎi (海; sea)
zhǎo (找; look for)
shǒu (手; hand)
gěi (給; give)
(iii) If the tone mark is on "i", the dot is omitted.
2. Syllables With an Initial
Write down the initial, and the final (the medial, if there is one, followed by the base) with no space in between.
Examples:
bān (班; class)
jiā (家; home)
zhēn (真; real)
Exceptions:
(1) If and only if "uo" follows "b", "p", "m", or "f", "u" is dropped, resulting in "bo", "po", "mo", or "fo".
(2) If and only if "ü" follows "j", "q", "x", the umlaut is dropped.
3. Syllables Without an Initial
(1) syllables starting with "a", "o" or "e"
Write down the final.
Examples:
ài (愛; love)
ǒu (藕; lotus root)
ēn (恩; kindness; favor)
(2) syllables starting with "i"
Replace "i" with "y".
Examples:
yǎn (眼; eye)
yào (要; want to)
yá (牙; tooth)
Exceptions:
(i) For the single vowel "i", and the nasals "in" and "ing", "y" is added before "i", resulting in "yi", "yin", and "ying";
(ii) Spell "you" for "iu".
Examples:
yī (一; one)
yīng (應; should)
yǒu (有; have)
(3) syllables starting with "u"
Replace "u" with "w".
Examples:
wán (完; finish)
wài (外; outside)
wáng (王; king)
Exceptions:
(i) For the single vowel "u", "w" is added before "u", resulting in "wu";
(ii) Spell "wen" for "un";
(iii) Spell "wei" for "ui".
(4) syllables starting with "ü"
Replace "ü" with "yu".
Examples:
yǔ ( (雨; rain)
yún (雲; cloud)
yuǎn (遠; far)
(5) SUMMARY
Syllables
starting
with
General spelling rule
Exceptions
a; o; e Write down the final No
i Replace "i" with "y". "i" => "yi"
"in" => "yin"
"ing" => "ying"
"iu" => "you"
u Replace "u" with "w". "u" => "wu";
"un" => "wen"
"ui" => "wei"
ü Replace "ü" with "yu". No
4. R-ending
The "er" (兒) sound can follow finals to from retroflections. Add "r" at the end of the syllable in this case.
Examples:
.yidiǎnr (一點兒; a little)
fànguǎnr (飯館兒; restaurant)
jiǎo.zi xiànr (餃子餡兒; stuffing for dumplings)
5. Characters vs. Words
In order for others to understand more easily, most people write the two pinyin syllables with no space in between if there are two characters in a word, as is shown below.
And the first letter of a sentence, and the first letters of proper nouns should be capitalized.
Example:
Nǐ gēn Wáng Xiǎoyún dōu .shi Běijīng Dàxué .de xué.sheng.
你跟王小雲都是北京大學的學生。
You and Wang, Xiaoyun are both Peking University students.
6. Syllable-marking Apostrophe
Sometimes the Pinyin for word made up of more than one character is ambiguous when there is no tone marks: "xian" , for example, can either be interpreted as "xiān" meaning "first" (先), or "xi-an", the name of the "terra-cotta warriors" city; so is "tiananmen", which can be "tian-an-men", "ti-a-nan-men", or "ti-an-an-men".
An apostrophe is used to mark syllables in this case.
Examples:
xian = xian (one syllable)
Xi'an = Xīān(two syllables; 西安)
Tian'anmen = Tiān'ānmén (three syllables; 天安門)
