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HanCam · Free pinyin tool
Pinyin chart with audio
Every syllable of Mandarin Chinese in one table: initials across, finals down. Tap a syllable to see its tones with tone marks, then tap a tone to hear it.
Selected syllable
ma Zhuyin:Your browser has no Chinese voice of its own, so the listen buttons stay silent here. iPhone, iPad and Mac have one built in. On other devices a Chinese voice can be added in the speech settings of the system.
All syllables: initials across, finals down
| – | b | p | m | f | d | t | n | l | g | k | h | j | q | x | zh | ch | sh | r | z | c | s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| o | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| e | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ai | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ei | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ao | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ou | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| an | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| en | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ang | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| eng | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ong | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| er | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| i | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ia | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ie | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| iao | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| iu | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ian | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| in | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| iang | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ing | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| iong | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| u | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ua | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| uo | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| uai | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ui | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| uan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| un | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| uang | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ü | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| üe | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| üan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ün |
403 syllables. Scroll sideways for more initials; the arrow keys also move between syllables. A greyed-out tone means that no common character is read that way.
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How to read the pinyin chart
A Mandarin syllable has up to three parts: an initial (the consonant it starts with), a final (the vowel part, which can end in n, ng or r) and a tone. The chart combines the 21 initials with the finals. A cell is filled only where Mandarin has that syllable, so the empty cells are combinations that do not exist.
The first column holds the syllables without an initial. They are written with y or w, or start with the vowel itself: i alone is written yi, u is wu, ü is yu and uen is wen.
The 21 initials
The initials fall into six groups, by where in the mouth they are made:
| Lips | b p m f |
|---|---|
| Tip of the tongue | d t n l |
| Back of the tongue | g k h |
| Flat of the tongue | j q x |
| Tongue curled back | zh ch sh r |
| Tongue behind the teeth | z c s |
b, d, g, j, zh and z are not voiced the way they are in English. What separates them from p, t, k, q, ch and c is a puff of air: p, t, k, q, ch and c have it, the others do not.
j, q and x come only before i and ü. In zhi, chi, shi, ri, zi, ci and si the letter i is not the i of bi or ni: the consonant is simply held a little longer.
The finals
The finals are grouped by their first sound: a, o or e, then i, then u, then ü. Three are shortened in writing: iou is written iu, uei is ui and uen is un. So liu, gui and lun are said li-ou, gu-ei and lu-en.
ü is written u after j, q, x and y (ju, qu, xu, yu), because a plain u never follows those letters. After n and l both vowels exist, so the dots are kept: nu and nü, lu and lü. On a keyboard ü is usually typed as v.
Tones in the chart
The chart lists syllables without tones. Each can be said in up to four tones, and some also in a short neutral tone. Few syllables use all of them: the panel above the chart shows which tones a syllable has, each with a common character that is read that way.
The sound comes from the Chinese voice of your own device. It reads the character shown, so you hear that word said by a text-to-speech voice: a good guide to the tone, not a studio recording.
Pinyin for Chinese you cannot type
A chart helps when you already know the syllable. For Chinese on a sign, a menu or a page of a book, HanCam reads the characters with the camera of your iPhone or iPad and shows them with their pinyin, tone marks included, and the meaning. The meaning is in your phone's language where Apple's on-device translation offers it, and in English otherwise.
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Questions and answers
How many syllables does Mandarin Chinese have?
About 400 before tones are counted, and more than 1200 with them. The chart on this page has 403 syllables. A few rare interjections, such as yo and ng, are left out.
What are initials and finals in pinyin?
The initial is the consonant at the start of a syllable and the final is everything after it. In zhong, zh is the initial and ong is the final. Pinyin has 21 initials and about 35 finals. A syllable can also be a final alone, as in an, ai or er.
Why are some cells of the pinyin chart empty?
Because Mandarin does not have those syllables. j, q and x combine only with finals that start with i or ü, and g, k and h never do. b, p, m and f take almost no finals that start with u. An empty cell is not a gap in the chart; it is how the language works.
What is the difference between u and ü in pinyin?
They are two different vowels. u is the vowel of “food”. ü is said with the tongue of “ee” and rounded lips, like the French u or the German ü. Pinyin leaves the dots out after j, q, x and y, because only ü can follow them: ju, qu, xu and yu are all said with ü.
Where does the audio of the pinyin chart come from?
From the Chinese text-to-speech voice of your own device. Nothing is downloaded and nothing is sent anywhere. iPhone, iPad and Mac have such a voice built in. If your browser has none, the page says so above the chart and the tone buttons stay silent.