Mandarin Chinese
detailed pronunciation guide
Why learn Mandarin Chinese pronunciation?
As of 2020, 1.120 billion people speak Mandarin Chinese around the world, 918 million of which are native speakers (that’s a lot!)
Chinese media (Cdramas, Cnovels, video games, ...) have been getting very popular lately, but many international fans don’t know how to pronounce the names and words that appear in them correctly.
There is a lot of prejudice against Chinese people, especially in western countries, and the language is often mocked and not taken seriously. Please do your part in educating yourself and learning at least some basics of its proper pronunciation.
Content
Common mistakes 1 (slide 5)
Basic information (slide 6)
Syllables (slide 7)
Consonants (slides 8 - 14)
Vowels (slides 15 - 21)
Tones (slide 22)
Common mistakes 2 (slide 23)
Common mistakes 3 (slide 24)
Quick exercises (slides 25 - 26)
Further resources (slide 27)
Feel free to skip around. You don’t need to read everything in order.
I highly recommend bookmarking this presentation and using it for reference whenever needed!
This presentation includes audio.
In desktop browsers: hover over the gray speaker icons and click the play button
In mobile browsers: just tap the gray speaker icons to play the audio
Common mistakes 1
Please don’t say it like this Try saying it like this
Zhong guo
Dian hua
Da Qing
Yang Mi
✕
✕
✕
✓
✓
✓
Most mistakes happen when people just don’t know what sounds the letters represent. If you’re one of those people, this guide will help you figure it out!
✕
✓
Basic information
Chinese is written with Chinese characters (汉字, hànzì)
The most common romanization method (writing Mandarin Chinese with the Latin alphabet) is 拼音 (pīnyīn)
Each Chinese character is read as just one syllable!
Remember the dian hua example? A big reason why the wrong version sounds wrong is because it was pronounced as 4 syllables (dee-ahn-hoo-ah) instead of 2 (dian-hua)
Syllables
Syllables in Mandarin Chinese are usually less complex than in English, but they sometimes use combinations of sounds that feel unfamiliar to English speakers
Examples of English syllables
Examples of Mandarin Chinese syllables
it - 2 sounds
snow - 4 sounds
spring - 5 sounds
strength - 7 sounds
它 (tā) - 2 sounds
雪 (xuě) - 3 sounds
泉 (quán) - 4 sounds
力 (lì) - 2 sounds
Consonants
The following slides (9 - 13) contain all consonants in Mandarin Chinese and their pronunciation
Consonant (pinyin)
Phonetic symbol (IPA)
English equivalent (approximation)
Example word
m
/m/
mother
马 (mǎ) - horse
n
/n/
night
女 (nǚ) - woman
ng
/ŋ/
among
星 (xīng) - star
l
/l/
light
驴 (lǘ) - donkey
r
/ɻ~ʐ/
round
人 (rén) - person
Consonants 1
Consonant (pinyin)
Phonetic symbol (IPA)
English equivalent (approximation)
Example word
f
/f/
field
服 (fú) - clothes
h
/h~x/
hard
后 (hòu) - back
s
/s/
sea
撒 (sā) - release
c
/ts/
—
菜 (cài) - dish
z
/d̥z̥/
—
再 (zài) - again
Consonants 2
Consonant (pinyin)
Phonetic symbol (IPA)
English equivalent (approximation)
Example word
x
/ɕ/
she
星 (xīng) - star
q
/tɕ/
cheap
去 (qù) - go
j
/d̥ʑ̥/
jeep
句 (jù) - sentence
sh
/ʂ/
shard
十 (shí) - ten
ch
/tʂ/
char
车 (chē) - car
zh
/d̥ʐ̥/
jar
遮 (zhē) - conceal
Consonants 3
Consonant (pinyin)
Phonetic symbol (IPA)
English equivalent (approximation)
Example word
p
/p/
pear
跑 (pǎo) - run
b
/b̥/
bear
宝 (bǎo) - treasure
t
/t/
time
听 (tīng) - listen
d
/d̥/
dime
玎 (dīng) - jingle
k
/k/
cold
看 (kàn) - look
g
/g̥/
gold
干 (gàn) - tree trunk
Consonants 4
Consonant (pinyin)
Phonetic symbol (IPA)
English equivalent (approximation)
Example word
w
/w/
weather
蛙 (wā) - frog
y
/j/
yell
夜 (yè) - night
Consonants 5
Note:
wu has no audible w sound, it’s just pronounced /u/
yi has no audible y sound, it’s just pronounced /i/
Consonant combinations
A few examples of consonant combinations that might feel unfamiliar to English speakers:
电 (diàn) — /d̥jɛn/ please don’t say “dee-ann”
花 (huā) — /xwa/ please don’t say “hoo-wa”
全 (quán) — /tɕɥɛn/ please don’t say “chu-ann”
Remember that each Chinese character should only be pronounced as a single syllable!
If you still find this difficult, you can try clapping once and saying the whole syllable quickly on the clap.
Vowels
The following slides (16 - 20) contain a list of vowels and vowel combinations
A lot of Chinese vowels do not appear in English, so it’s best to learn them by listening to native speakers.
Vowel symbols can have different pronunciations depending on the word they’re in.
Vowel
(pinyin)
Phonetic symbol (IPA)
English equivalent (approximation)
Example word
a
/a/
/ɛ/
—
yell~cat
男 (nán) - man
眼 (yǎn) - eye
o
/o/
—
红 (hóng) - red
e
/ɛ/
/ə/
yell
the
夜 (yè) - night
生 (shēng) - life
i
/i/
teach
玎 (dīng) - jingle
u
/u/
/y/
cool
—
哭 (kū) - cry
去 (qù) - go
ü
/y/
—
女 (nǚ) - woman
Basic vowels
Vowels
(pinyin)
Phonetic symbol (IPA)
English equivalent (approximation)
Example word
ai
/ai/
idol
来 (lái) - come
ei
/ɛi/
eight
美 (měi) - beautiful
ao
/ao/
out
猫 (māo) - cat
ou
/ou/
home
狗 (gǒu) - dog
uo
/oa/
—
落 (luò) - fall
Vowel combinations 1
Vowels
(pinyin)
Phonetic symbol (IPA)
English equivalent (approximation)
Example word
iu
/jou/
yoghurt
牛 (niú) - cow
ue
/jyɛ/
—
月 (yuè) - moon
ia
ia (before n)
/ja/
/jɛ/
—
yellow
想 (xiǎng) - want
先 (xiān) - first
ie
/jɛ/
yellow
蝶 (dié) - butterfly
Vowel combinations 2
Note:
the ending -ian is always pronounced like “yen”!
examples: 先 (xiān)，见 (jiàn)，恋 (liàn)，年 (nián)，前 (qián)，电 (diàn)
Vowels
(pinyin)
Phonetic symbol (IPA)
English equivalent (approximation)
Example word
ui
/wɛi/
weight
灰 (huī) - ash
uai
/wai/
white
怪 (guài) - strange
iao
/jao/
—
鸟 (niǎo) - bird
Vowel combinations 3
Vowel
(pinyin)
Phonetic symbol (IPA)
English equivalent (approximation)
Example word
i (before rhotic consonant)
/ɹ̩/
/ɻ̩/
—
—
紫 (zǐ) - purple
指 (zhǐ) - finger
e (in isolation)
/ɤə/
—
饿 (è) - hungry
Special vowels
More about e
The letter e can stand for a lot of different vowels in pinyin. Here’s an overview:
Phonetic symbol (IPA)
Example words
/ə/
剩 (shèng)，焿 (gēng)，深 (shēn)，跟 (gēn)，温 (wēn)
/ə~ɤə/
歌 (gē)，热 (rè)，遮 (zhē)，乐 (lè)，河 (hé)
/ɤə/
饿 (è)，额 (é)
/ɛ/
夜 (yè)，月 (yuè)，却 (què)，谢 (xiè)
/o~ə/
风 (fēng)，梦 (mèng)
Tones
Mandarin Chinese has 4 tones + a neutral tone
In pinyin, tones are indicated by diacritics on top of the vowels
1
(high)
2
(rising)
3
(dipping)
4
(falling)
neutral
妈
mā
mom
麻
má
hemp
马
mǎ
horse
蚂
mà
grasshopper
吗
ma
question particle
Common mistakes 2
A lot of people find these syllables especially difficult to pronounce.
Try to read them out loud, then listen to the audio and see if you pronounced them correctly.
Xiao
小 (xiǎo)，笑 (xiào)，削 (xiāo)
Xuan
选 (xuǎn)，玄 (xuán)，谖 (xuān)
Yuan
远 (yuǎn)，元 (yuán)，愿 (yuàn)
Cheng
骋 (chěng)，城 (chéng)，撑 (chēng)
Qiu
秋 (qiū)，求 (qiú)，糗 (qiǔ)
Xue
雪 (xuě)，学 (xué)，薛 (xuē)
Common mistakes 3
A lot of people might find it difficult to differentiate these syllable pairs.
Listen closely to get a feeling for the differences.
Wan 碗 (wǎn)
Wen 吻 (wěn)
Chang 尝 (cháng)
Cheng 城 (chéng)
Zhang 帐 (zhàng)
Jiang 酱 (jiàng)
Shao 哨 (shào)
Xiao 笑 (xiào)
Xi 洗 (xǐ)
Shi 使 (shǐ)
She 舍 (shě)
Quick exercises 1
Try reading these sentences out loud at a comfortable pace, then listen to the audio to check if you read them correctly.
他喜欢花。
tā xǐ huan huā.
He likes flowers.
你吃饭了吗？
nǐ chī fàn le ma?
Have you eaten?
我无法区分青蛙
和蟾蜍。
wǒ wú fǎ qū fēn qīng wā
hé chán chú.
I can't tell frogs
and toads apart.
Quick exercises 2
Now try reading some names!
孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ)
551 - 479 BC, philosopher and politician, known in English as Confucius
武則天 (Wǔ Zétiān)
624 - 705, Empress of China
孟浩然 (Mèng Hàorán)
689 - 740, poet
顾闳中 (Gù Hóngzhōng)
937 - 975, painter
袁显臣 (Yuán Xiǎnchén)
Human rights activist
葛剑雄 (Gě Jiànxióng)
Historian
肖战 (Xiāo Zhàn)
Actor and singer
孟美岐 (Mèng Měiqí)
Chinese member of Kpop group WJSN
Some names from ancient history:
Some contemporary names:
Further resources
Recommended dictionary: MDBG Chinese dictionary
Text-to-speech service used: TTSMP3.com
Bella Ping Music Channel: a great way to discover and listen to different kinds of Chinese pop music
Some notes
/b̥, d̥, g̥/ and /p, t, k/ are normally transcribed as /p, t, k/ and /pʰ, tʰ, kʰ/, but I decided to use the former as it tends to be easier to understand for English speakers
Thank you for using this guide!
Made by June (@kuluyacool on Twitter)