Natural Chinese > courses > From Beginners to Advanced > Step 2:Beginner > Introduction to Chinese Pronunciation
Part 1: Pinyin/拼音(pīn yīn:spell/拼,sound/音)

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A Chinese syllable(pinyin) is composed of an initial,a final and a tone.

Chinese language/汉语(hàn yǔ)/中文(zhōng wén:Chinese/中国人的,character/文字)

23 initials:

b p m f d t n l g k h j q x zh ch sh r z c s y w

24 finals:

a o e i u ü ai ei ui ao ou iu ie üe er an en in un ün ang eng ing ong

16 intial&finals as a whole

zhi chi shi ri zi ci si yi wu yu ye yue yuan yin yun ying.



Part 2 :4 Tones

There are 4 tones for Chinese character:

 

tone1:high level pitch “ˉ”

soup/汤(tāng):noodle soup/面汤(miàn tāng ),vegetable soup/菜汤(cài tāng),meat soup/肉汤(ròu tāng),drink/喝汤(hē tāng),etc./等等(děng děng)

characters related:cooking/做饭(zuò fàn)food/食物(shí wù)


tone2:rising “ˊ”

sugar/糖(táng):refined sugar/白糖(bái táng),black sugar/红糖(hóng táng),candy/糖(táng guǒ)

 

character related:colors/颜色(yán sè)


tone3:falling-rising “ˇ”

lie/躺(tǎng):lying/躺着(tǎng zhe),lying down/躺下(lying down)

 

 


tone4:falling “ˋ”

hot/烫(tàng):汤烫(tāng tàng),水太烫(shuǐ tài tàng),烫伤(tàng shāng)

 

 


practice/练习(liàn xí):

Can you read them?

no,not:不bù                you:你nǐ

I,me:我wǒ                   he,him:他tā

spicy:辣là                    road:路lù

drink:喝hē                  green:绿lǜ

horse:马🐴 mǎ           chicken:鸡🐓 jī

pig:猪🐽 zhū              go:去qù

like:喜欢xǐhuan

washing machine:洗衣机xǐ yī jī

vinegar:醋cù

rent:租zū

eat:吃chī

hot:热rè

tea:茶chá,热茶rè chá

goodbye:再见zài jiàn

please:请qǐng

orange juice:橙汁chéng zhī

wait:等等děngděng

一yī,二èr,三sān,四sì,五wǔ,六liù ,七qī,八bā,九jiǔ,十shí