Understanding Pinyin
Pinyin is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese. It uses the Latin alphabet to represent the sounds of Mandarin Chinese. Learning Pinyin is crucial for pronunciation and understanding how Chinese characters are spoken.
A Pinyin syllable consists of an initial (consonant) and a final (vowel or vowel combination). Crucially, Mandarin Chinese also has four main tones, plus a neutral tone, which change the meaning of a word.
The Four Tones:
- First Tone (ˉ): High and flat (e.g., mā - mother)
- Second Tone (ˊ): Rising (e.g., má - hemp)
- Third Tone (ˇ): Dipping and rising (e.g., mǎ - horse)
- Fourth Tone (ˋ): Falling (e.g., mà - to scold)
- Neutral Tone (no mark): Light and short (e.g., ma - question particle)