Pinyin/Pronunciation

Consonants

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

Vowels

Pinyin	IPA
a	[a]
e	[ə]
ê	[ɛ]
i	[i]
-i (after z,c,s)	[ɿ]
-i (after zh,ch,sh,r)	[ʅ]
o	[o]
u	[u]
ü	[y]

• "u" after "j, q, x, y" is pronounced as "ü"
• "e" after "i, u, ü, y" is pronounced as "ê"
• "o" before "ng" is pronounced as "u"

Pronunciation of consonants

Pinyin	IPA	Explanation	'Examples
b	[b]	b, as in bit	Běijīng (capital of China)
p	[p]	as in English	piányi (cheap), piàoliang (beautiful)
m	[m]	as in English	miàntiáo (noodles)
f	[f]	as in English	fācái (get rich)
d	[d]	d, as in dark	dà (big)
t	[t]	as in English	tàipíng (peace)
n	[n]	as in English	nánrén (man)
l	[l]	as in English	lǎorén (old man)
g	[g]	g, as in gill, never as large	guójiā (country)
k	[k]	as in English	kèrén (guest)
h	[x]	like the English h if followed by "a"; otherwise it is pronounced more roughly (not unlike the Scots ch)	hēshuǐ (drink water)
j	[tɕ]	like q, but unaspirated. (To get this sound, first take the sound halfway between joke and check, and then slowly pass it backwards along the tongue until it is entirely clear of the tongue tip.) While this exact sound is not used in English, the closest match is the j in ajar, not the s in Asia; this means that "Beijing" is pronounced like "bay-jing", not like "beige-ing". You may simply pronounce it as zh and a Chinese may understand it.	jiàotáng (church), jiā (home or family)
q	[tɕʰ]	like church, but with less of the "ch"/"h" sound; pass it backwards along the tongue until it is free of the tongue tip	shēngqì (get angry)
x	[ɕ]	like sh, but with less of the "s" sound. Take the sound and pass it backwards along the tongue until it is clear of the tongue tip; very similar to the final sound in German ich, Portuguese enxada, luxo, xícara, puxa, and to huge or Hugh in some English dialects	xiǎohái (child), Xizang (Tibet)
zh	[tʂ]	ch with no aspiration (take the sound halfway between joke and church and curl it upwards); very similar to merger in American English, but not voiced	Zhōngguó (China), zháohuǒ (be on fire)
ch	[tʂʰ]	as in chin, but with the tongue curled upwards; very similar to nurture in American English, but strongly aspirated	chīfàn (have a meal), chǎojià (quarrel)
sh	[ʂ]	as in shinbone, but with the tongue curled upwards; very similar to undershirt in American English	shāmò (desert), Shànghǎi (a big city in China)
r	[ɻ]	similar to the English r in rank, but with the lips spread and with the tongue curled upwards	rè (hot), rèqíng (passion)
z	[ts]	unaspirated c (halfway between beds and bets), (more common example is suds)	zǎoshànghǎo (good morning!), qīzi (wife), Zhāng Zǐyí (name of a Chinese actress)
c	[tsʰ]	like ts, aspirated (more common example is cats)	cǎo (grass), cì, time
s	[s]	as in sun	Lhasa (capital of Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region), Suzhou (capital of the province of Jiansu, near Shanghai)
y	[j]	as in English	yuèliang (moon)
w	[w]	as in English	wàiguórén (foreigner)
ng	[ŋ]	as in English	ng (What?, Huh?)

Pronunciation of vowels

Pinyin	IPA	Explanation	'Examples
a	[a]	as the vowel in "star" without the "r" sound	bàba (papa)
e	[ə]	as the vowel in "stir"	gēge (elder brother)
i	[i]	as the vowel in "bit"	dìdi (younger brother)
o	[o]	as the vowel in "law"	lǎopo (wife)
u	[u]	as the vowel in "food"	mǔqin (mother)
ü	[y]	as in German "üben" or French "lune" (To get this sound, say "ee" with rounded lips)	yǔyán* (language)

• The two dots of ü is omitted after "j, q, x, y".

Basic combinations of vowel and consonant

ai	ei	ao	ou
an	en	ang	eng	ong

Tones

There are four tone marks in Hanyu Pinyin and they are essential to correct pronunciation: ā, á, ǎ, à, written above the first vowel of the word (the vowel "a" in this example), or written as a1, a2, a3, a4, respectively. (See also the Chinese wikibook page on using tones).