Tone marks |
Syllables that begin with i, u, ü |
zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, s vs. j, q, x |
-iou, -uei, -uen |
Tone Sandhi (3rd tone + 3rd tone) |
Tonal change of yī & bù |
Tone mark is placed over a syllable if the syllable has:
1. Only one vowel (a, o, e, i, u, ü): over the vowel |
ex. tán, bō, dǐ, è |
2. Two vowels (ao, ou, ei, ai): over the first vowel |
ex. bái, pǎo, něi, ài |
3. Medial (i, u, ü) + one vowel: over the vowel |
ex. dié, liǎn, luè, zhuāng |
“i, u, ü” can be either vowels or medials in a syllable. Here’s how you spell it out:
| i as a vowel |
add y |
-in --> yin
-ing --> ying |
i as a medial |
replace i with y |
-ian --> yan
-ie --> ye |
u as a vowel |
replace u with w |
-u --> wu
-uo --> wo |
u as a medial |
replace u with w |
-uan --> wan
-uei --> wei |
ü as a vowel |
add y |
-ü --> yu |
ü as a medial |
add y |
-üan --> yuan
-üe --> yue |
The finals that can go immediately after these two sets of initials happens to be mutually exclusive.
Check Compound Finals to see the contrast in the pinyin table.
| zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, s |
1. + vowels
2. + medial “u” |
ex. cāo, shé, rì, zǒu
ex. zhuó, chuān, ruì |
j, q, x |
1. + i
2. + ü |
ex. jiàn, qiū, xióng
ex. jù qún xuǎn |
The spelling of these three syllables change when they are preceded by a initial.
| without initials |
-iou --> you
-uei --> wei
-uen --> wen |
with initials |
d + -iōu --> diū (o is dropped)
d + -uēi --> duī (e is dropped)
d + -uēn --> dūn (e is dropped) |
When two 3rd tones are put together, the first 3rd tone is raised to a 2nd tone.
Ex. “nǐhǎo” is pronounced “níhǎo” ; “hěnhǎo” is pronounced “hénhǎo”.
The tones of yī and bù change, depending on the syllables that follow them immediately.
yī (一: the number “one”) |
yī --> yì + 1st, 2nd, 3rd tone |
ex. yìtiān (one day), yìnián (one year), yìkǒu (one bite) |
yī --> yí + 4th tone |
ex. yíkuài (one dollar) |
bù (不: no; not) |
bù --> bù + 1st, 2nd, 3rd tone |
ex. bùsuān (not sour), bùtián (not sweet), bùkǔ (not bitter) |
bù --> bú + 4th tone |
ex. búlà (not spicy) |
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