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
1. Common mistakes 1 (slide 5)
2. Basic information (slide 6)
3. Syllables (slide 7)
4. Consonants (slides 8 - 14)
5. Vowels (slides 15 - 21)
6. Tones (slide 22)
7. Common mistakes 2 (slide 23)
8. Common mistakes 3 (slide 24)
9. Quick exercises (slides 25 - 26)
10. 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!
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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 它 (tā) - 2 sounds

snow - 4 sounds 雪 (xuě) - 3 sounds
spring - 5 sounds 泉 (quán) - 4 sounds
strength - 7 sounds 力 (lì) - 2 sounds
Consonants

The following slides (9 - 13) contain all consonants

in Mandarin Chinese and their pronunciation
Consonants 1
Consonant Phonetic symbol English equivalent Example word
(pinyin) (IPA) (approximation)

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 2
Consonant Phonetic symbol English equivalent Example word
(pinyin) (IPA) (approximation)

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 3
Consonant Phonetic symbol English equivalent Example word
(pinyin) (IPA) (approximation)

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 4
Consonant Phonetic symbol English equivalent Example word
(pinyin) (IPA) (approximation)

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 5
Consonant Phonetic symbol English equivalent Example word
(pinyin) (IPA) (approximation)

w /w/ weather 蛙 (wā) - frog

y /j/ yell 夜 (yè) - night

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
➔ 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.

The following slides (16 - 20) contain a list of vowels and

vowel combinations
Basic vowels
Vowel Phonetic symbol English equivalent Example word
(pinyin) (IPA) (approximation)
a /a/ — 男 (nán) - man
/ɛ/ yell~cat 眼 (yǎn) - eye

o /o/ — 红 (hóng) - red

e /ɛ/ yell 夜 (yè) - night

/ə/ the 生 (shēng) - life

i /i/ teach 玎 (dīng) - jingle

u /u/ cool 哭 (kū) - cry

/y/ — 去 (qù) - go

ü /y/ — 女 (nǚ) - woman

Vowel combinations 1
Vowels Phonetic symbol English equivalent Example word
(pinyin) (IPA) (approximation)

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 2
Vowels Phonetic symbol English equivalent Example word
(pinyin) (IPA) (approximation)

iu /jou/ yoghurt 牛 (niú) - cow

ue /jyɛ/ — 月 (yuè) - moon

ia /ja/ — 想 (xiǎng) - want

ia (before n) /jɛ/ yellow 先 (xiān) - first

ie /jɛ/ yellow 蝶 (dié) - butterfly

Note:
➔ the ending -ian is always pronounced like “yen”!
➔ examples: 先 (xiān)，见 (jiàn)，恋 (liàn)，年 (nián)，前 (qián)，电 (diàn)
Vowel combinations 3
Vowels Phonetic symbol English equivalent Example word
(pinyin) (IPA) (approximation)

ui /wɛi/ weight 灰 (huī) - ash

uai /wai/ white 怪 (guài) - strange

iao /jao/ — 鸟 (niǎo) - bird

Special vowels
Vowel Phonetic symbol English equivalent Example word
(pinyin) (IPA) (approximation)

i (before rhotic consonant) /ɹ̩ / — 紫 (zǐ) - purple

/ɻ̩ / — 指 (zhǐ) - finger

e (in isolation) /ɤə/ — 饿 (è) - hungry

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 2 3 4
(high) (rising) (dipping) (falling) neutral

妈 麻 马 蚂 吗
mā má mǎ mà ma
mom hemp horse grasshopper 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 ● Cheng
○ 小 (xiǎo)，笑 (xiào)，削 (xiāo) ○ 骋 (chěng)，城 (chéng)，撑 (chēng)
● Xuan ● Qiu
○ 选 (xuǎn)，玄 (xuán)，谖 (xuān) ○ 秋 (qiū)，求 (qiú)，糗 (qiǔ)
● Yuan ● Xue
○ 远 (yuǎn)，元 (yuán)，愿 (yuàn) ○ 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) ● Zhang 帐 (zhàng) ● Xi 洗 (xǐ)

● Wen 吻 (wěn) ● Jiang 酱 (jiàng) ● Shi 使 (shǐ)

● She 舍 (shě)

● Chang 尝 (cháng) ● Shao 哨 (shào)

● Cheng 城 (chéng) ● Xiao 笑 (xiào)

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 wǒ wú fǎ qū fēn qīng wā I can't tell frogs

和蟾蜍。 hé chán chú. and toads apart.
Quick exercises 2
➔ Now try reading some names!

Some names from ancient history: Some contemporary names:

● 孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ) ● 袁显臣 (Yuán Xiǎnchén)

○ 551 - 479 BC, philosopher and politician, ○ Human rights activist
known in English as Confucius ● 葛剑雄 (Gě Jiànxióng)
● 武則天 (Wǔ Zétiān) ○ Historian
○ 624 - 705, Empress of China ● 肖战 (Xiāo Zhàn)
● 孟浩然 (Mèng Hàorán) ○ Actor and singer
○ 689 - 740, poet ● 孟美岐 (Mèng Měiqí)
● 顾闳中 (Gù Hóngzhōng) ○ Chinese member of Kpop group WJSN
○ 937 - 975, painter
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)