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Page 1: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

汉语拼音 Learn Hanyu Pinyin

in 24 Days

-- A Guide for Beginners --

BY Min Min

httpwwwlearnchineseeverydaycom

PREFACE

Chinese is not a phonetic language The pronunciation is not related to the writing of Chinese characters In general pronunciation cannot be derived from looking at Chinese characters although sometimes characters with common parts have similar pronunciation Pinyin (拼音) is a way to represent Chinese characters and express the sounds in the Chinese language using the Roman alphabet 拼音 means to join together or spell out sounds It is a way to transcribe Chinese characters so people can pronounce it It serves the same purpose as the international phonetic symbols used in dictionaries which show how English words are pronounced Pinyin was adopted as the official system in China in 1958 and has since become a standard form used by news agencies as well as educational institutions It is now generally recognized as the standard for Romanization of Chinese throughout most of the world There are other systems that have been devised for transcribing Chinese sounds into the Roman alphabet but Pinyin is the most accepted and widely used Pinyin is the basic foundation of your Chinese study It teaches you how to pronounce Chinese through phonetic spelling with the English alphabet (Although Pinyin and English both use the Roman alphabet many letters are not expressed with the same sounds that English uses About half the time letters in pinyin

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 2

represent different sounds from what they would in a typical English word) Without any knowledge of Pinyin you wont be able to learn how to pronounce Chinese characters properly so this is the absolute must-do course for those starting to learn Chinese Besides pronunciation Pinyin is also the most common method to input Chinese characters into a computer I don‟t think this can be over emphasized enough how important these early stages of pronunciation practice are As once you have developed a bad pronunciation habit it will be very hard for you to break You will be very glad you spent the time you did practicing the basic and correct pronunciation of Chinese

HOW TO USE THIS AUDIO E-BOOK

This is a well-organized audio e-book and is a great introduction of Hanyu Pinyin for the beginners This e-book consists of 24 lessons which are broken down into 5 main sections Section 1 Tones Section 2 Simple Vowels Section 3 Initials Section 4 Compound and Nasal Vowels Section 5 Pinyin Rules

This PDF e-book contains audios for Pinyin pronunciation For the audios to work you need to open this e-book with Acrobat Reader 9 or above You can download the reader here ( httpgetadobecomreader )

These are the audio icons

In order to play the audio click on these icons For first time playing the audio you will be prompted with a security warning ldquoSome features have been disabled to avoid potential security

risks Only enable these features if you trust this documentrdquo You have to ldquotrust this document alwaysrdquo in order for the audio

to work Ok let‟s get started with Chinese Pinyin course I hope you find this audio e-book helpful

NOTICE OF RIGHTS

Most of the content of this book are in the public domain I hereby waive all claim of copyright in this work it may be used or altered in any manner without attribution or notice to me

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 3

While you are under no obligation to do so I would appreciate it if you give me credit for any work of mine that you use and ideally link back to the original If you feel like spreading a copy of this book you may do so without payment

NOTICE OF LIABILITY

The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information herein However the information contained in this book is distributed without warranty either express or implied

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 4

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Day 1 Tones helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 6

Day 2 Rules of Tone Marks helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 10

Day 3 a o e helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 13

Day 4 i u uuml helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 15

Day 5 b p m f helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 19

Day 6 d t n l helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23

Day 7 g k h helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26

Day 8 j q x helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 29

Day 9 zh ch sh r helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 31

Day 10 z c s helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 34

Day 11 y w helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 37

Day 12 ai ei ui helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 41

Day 13 ao ou iu helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 43

Day 14 ie uumle helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45

Day 15 er helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 48

Day 16 an en helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 51

Day 17 in un uumln helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 53

Day 18 ang eng ing ong helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 56

Day 19 ia iao helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 58

Day 20 ian iang iong helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 60

Day 21 ua uo uai helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 62

Day 22 uan uang uumlan helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 64

Day 23 Spelling Rules helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 68

Day 24 Changes of Tones helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 73

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 5

Section 1

Tones (声调)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 6

DAY 1 Tones

In English tones are used to indicate whether a sentence is a general statement a request or a command Changing the tone in English will change the mood or the emphasis of the sentence but not the meaning of the sentence In Chinese each word has a tone If you do not use the right tone it could completely change the meaning of the word

Chinese tones (声调) are especially difficult for Western learners Comparing to English which only has rising tone and falling tone Chinese has four tones including upper tone (阴平) lower even (阳平) falling-rising tone (上声) and falling tone (去声) There is one more neutral tone referred to by the Chinese as bdquolight sound‟

(轻声) Each tone has a distinctive pitch contour which can be graphed using the Chinese 5-level system as shown

The reason for having these tones is probably that the Chinese language has only very few possible syllables approximately 400 while English has about 12000 For this reason there are more homophones words with the same sound expressing different meanings in Chinese than in English

Relative pitch changes of the four tones Chinese is a tonal language Mastering the tones is the key to speaking Chinese Every Chinese character is a syllable with a fixed tone If the tone is wrong the meaning is changed right away and in some cases corresponds with no existing Chinese character

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 7

Let‟s see an example While you are reading a book and your brother (or sister or child) keeps on interrupting you You are likely to become annoyed and say ldquoI‟m trying to read a bookrdquo In English this would be said with an emphatic falling tone at the end I am trying to read a book In Chinese 书 (book) has a flat tone I want to read a book

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shū

我 要 看 书

But if you use a falling tone for 书 (book) as in English the meaning changes completely I want to see the tree

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shugrave

我 要 看 树

The Pinyin system uses diacritics to mark the four tones The diacritic marks are placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) Table below describes all the Chinese tones in details

Tone Mark Description

1 st Tone (阴平) ˉ

Flat or High Level Tone Like the reciting ldquoA B C Drdquo

ā ō ē ī ū ǖ

2 nd Tone (阳平) ˊ Rising or High-Rising Tone

Like a surprised ldquoHuhrdquo

aacute oacute eacute iacute uacute ǘ

3 rd Tone (上声) ˇ

Falling-Rising or Low Tone Like an indecisive ldquoWellhelliprdquo

ǎ ǒ ě ǐ ǔ ǚ

4 th Tone (去声) ˋ Falling or High-Falling Tone

Like a purposeful ldquoYesrdquo

agrave ograve egrave igrave ugrave ǜ

5 th Tone (轻声)

Neutral Tone

ɑ o e i u uuml

Notes

The tone marks are placed over the vowels If the letter ldquo i rdquo has

a tone mark over it the dot is omitted

Blues

4392

Blues

432

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 8

Tone Drills

Below are a few characters that have the same pinyin but with 4 different tones Try to read each character aloud and make sure you can pronounce them correctly

Sound Characters

yī yiacute yǐ yigrave

一 宜 椅 亿

wū wuacute wǔ wugrave

屋 无 五 物

yān yaacuten yǎn yagraven

烟 言 眼 燕

mā maacute mǎ magrave

妈 麻 马 骂

bā baacute bǎ bagrave

八 拔 把 爸

xuē xueacute xuě xuegrave

靴 学 雪 血

fēi feacutei fěi fegravei

飞 肥 匪 肺

dī diacute dǐ digrave

低 敌 底 弟

dā daacute dǎ dagrave

搭 答 打 大

tāng taacuteng tǎng tagraveng

汤 糖 躺 烫

yāo yaacuteo yǎo yagraveo

腰 遥 咬 要

qiāng qiaacuteng qiǎng qiagraveng

枪 强 抢 呛

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

36

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

3888

Blues

3816

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

3744

Blues

3456

Blues

3744

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 9

Neutral tones

Some syllables in Chinese are toneless or occur in the neutral tone

i Particles are always in the neutral tone eg 了 ( le )的 ( de )

ii The second half of a reduplicated word is often in the neutral tone eg 哥哥(gēge)(elder brother) 妈妈(māma)(mum)爸爸( bagraveba) (dad) 妹妹(megraveimei)(younger sister)

iii Syllables such as zi that only have a bdquofill-in‟ function

(ie to make the word disyllabic) are toneless eg 杯子 (bēizi)(cup) 桌子(zhuōzi)(table) 椅子(yǐzi)(chair)

iv The second syllable in compound words is sometimes toneless and is so indicated in the text In another context it may have a full tone Some people may pronounce certain words with a tone some without as in the word bdquoeast side‟ which may also be pronounced as particularly when bdquor‟ is added

Tones are one of the biggest challenges for Chinese learners but they are indispensable for speaking and understanding Chinese Therefore it is very important to make sure that you get the tones right before you start learning Chinese So practice your tones

Exercise 11

Listen to the tongue twisters below Try to mimic the sound as closely as possible

Tongue Twister 1

A mother who is riding on a horse thinks that it is slow and so she curses it

mā ma qiacute mǎ mǎ magraven mā ma magrave

妈 妈 骑 马 马 慢 妈 妈 骂 马

Tongue Twister 2

A little girl who is herding a cow finds it stubborn and so she pinches it

niū niū gǎn niuacute niuacute nigraveng niū niū

niǔ niuacute

妞 妞 赶 牛 牛 拧 妞 妞 扭 牛

Blues

2562802

Blues

2968761

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 10

DAY 2 Rules for Tone Marks

Tone marks (调号) in Hanyu Pinyin should always be placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) not initials When there is only one vowel in a syllable the tone mark is put above the final However when there is more than one final in a row you may be uncertain about which final should take the tone mark For example if you are given 跳 (tiao) is it tigraveao tiagraveo or tiaograve

Here are a few very simple guidelines that help to find the correct final letter for the tone mark (when there is more than one)

1 If there is an bdquoɑ‟ it will always take the tone mark 2 If there is no bdquoɑ‟ bdquoo‟ or bdquoe‟ will take the tone mark (There are

no Chinese syllables in Pinyin that contain both bdquoo‟ and bdquoe‟) 3 Otherwise the second vowel takes the tone mark

The possible vowel combinations are listed below with the vowel that receives the tone marked as second tone

a e i o u uuml

a a i a o

e e i

i ia ia o ie io iu

o o u

u ua ua i ue uiacute uo

uuml uumle

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 11

Exercise 21

Put a correct tone mark on the following syllables

1 bao (抱)- 4th tone

2 guo (果)- 3rd tone

3 tie (铁) - 3rd tone

4 ke (可) - 3rd tone

5 jiao (叫) - 4th tone

6 mou (某) - 3rd tone

7 que (雀)- 4th tone

8 qiu (球)- 2nd tone

9 gui (龟) - 1st tone

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 12

Section 2

Single Finals (单韵母)

There are 6 single finals ( 单韵母 )

a o e i u uuml

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 13

DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

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Blues

33697677

o

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

33434005

e

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

32026658

null

Blues

07314283

null

Blues

214204

null

Blues

19330605

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 14

Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

null

Blues

966531

null

Blues

17423603

null

Blues

131395445

null

Blues

2925717

null

Blues

51983795

null

Blues

51983795

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 15

DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

35434544

-

v

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

32264478

null

Blues

15151014

null

Blues

18546932

null

Blues

2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 16

Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

null

Blues

4571438

null

Blues

6870223

null

Blues

60865464

null

Blues

7366552

null

Blues

5172257

null

Blues

7105326

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 17

Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

null

Blues

44669476

null

Blues

7993493

null

Blues

5120012

null

Blues

2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 18

Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

2504897

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

26682167

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

31683254

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29174683

null

Blues

7235939

null

Blues

4623683

null

Blues

8333084

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

null

Blues

6112669

null

Blues

5877566

null

Blues

58253207

null

Blues

68963456

null

Blues

62171593

null

Blues

73143067

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 21

Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

Blues

1836198

null

Blues

18463177

null

Blues

15621141

null

Blues

841145

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

Blues

58514433

null

Blues

7941248

null

Blues

4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

27409513

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

28089514

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

30972507

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

28484616

null

Blues

63738947

null

Blues

903838

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 24

Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

null

Blues

58514433

null

Blues

60343013

null

Blues

7053081

null

Blues

60865464

null

Blues

7105326

null

Blues

61387916

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

null

Blues

8045738

null

Blues

5093889

null

Blues

78367577

null

Blues

79673705

null

Blues

81502285

null

Blues

10396728

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 26

DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25545301

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29056864

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

3102203

null

Blues

6556752

null

Blues

5982056

null

Blues

75232873

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

null

Blues

5877566

null

Blues

4806541

null

Blues

754941

null

Blues

4571438

null

Blues

8385328

null

Blues

45191927

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

null

Blues

15621141

null

Blues

23248982

null

Blues

24816337

null

Blues

30563297

null

Blues

22987757

null

Blues

2690614

null

Blues

26122463

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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uei

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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ve

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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33499856

vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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2761414

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ing

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ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

Blues

7288184

null

Blues

3578781

null

Blues

77845125

null

Blues

12564859

null

Blues

6582875

null

Blues

17554218

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

Blues

10109385

null

Blues

12773836

null

Blues

55379725

null

Blues

540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 2: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 2

represent different sounds from what they would in a typical English word) Without any knowledge of Pinyin you wont be able to learn how to pronounce Chinese characters properly so this is the absolute must-do course for those starting to learn Chinese Besides pronunciation Pinyin is also the most common method to input Chinese characters into a computer I don‟t think this can be over emphasized enough how important these early stages of pronunciation practice are As once you have developed a bad pronunciation habit it will be very hard for you to break You will be very glad you spent the time you did practicing the basic and correct pronunciation of Chinese

HOW TO USE THIS AUDIO E-BOOK

This is a well-organized audio e-book and is a great introduction of Hanyu Pinyin for the beginners This e-book consists of 24 lessons which are broken down into 5 main sections Section 1 Tones Section 2 Simple Vowels Section 3 Initials Section 4 Compound and Nasal Vowels Section 5 Pinyin Rules

This PDF e-book contains audios for Pinyin pronunciation For the audios to work you need to open this e-book with Acrobat Reader 9 or above You can download the reader here ( httpgetadobecomreader )

These are the audio icons

In order to play the audio click on these icons For first time playing the audio you will be prompted with a security warning ldquoSome features have been disabled to avoid potential security

risks Only enable these features if you trust this documentrdquo You have to ldquotrust this document alwaysrdquo in order for the audio

to work Ok let‟s get started with Chinese Pinyin course I hope you find this audio e-book helpful

NOTICE OF RIGHTS

Most of the content of this book are in the public domain I hereby waive all claim of copyright in this work it may be used or altered in any manner without attribution or notice to me

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 3

While you are under no obligation to do so I would appreciate it if you give me credit for any work of mine that you use and ideally link back to the original If you feel like spreading a copy of this book you may do so without payment

NOTICE OF LIABILITY

The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information herein However the information contained in this book is distributed without warranty either express or implied

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 4

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Day 1 Tones helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 6

Day 2 Rules of Tone Marks helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 10

Day 3 a o e helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 13

Day 4 i u uuml helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 15

Day 5 b p m f helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 19

Day 6 d t n l helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23

Day 7 g k h helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26

Day 8 j q x helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 29

Day 9 zh ch sh r helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 31

Day 10 z c s helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 34

Day 11 y w helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 37

Day 12 ai ei ui helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 41

Day 13 ao ou iu helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 43

Day 14 ie uumle helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45

Day 15 er helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 48

Day 16 an en helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 51

Day 17 in un uumln helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 53

Day 18 ang eng ing ong helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 56

Day 19 ia iao helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 58

Day 20 ian iang iong helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 60

Day 21 ua uo uai helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 62

Day 22 uan uang uumlan helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 64

Day 23 Spelling Rules helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 68

Day 24 Changes of Tones helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 73

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 5

Section 1

Tones (声调)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 6

DAY 1 Tones

In English tones are used to indicate whether a sentence is a general statement a request or a command Changing the tone in English will change the mood or the emphasis of the sentence but not the meaning of the sentence In Chinese each word has a tone If you do not use the right tone it could completely change the meaning of the word

Chinese tones (声调) are especially difficult for Western learners Comparing to English which only has rising tone and falling tone Chinese has four tones including upper tone (阴平) lower even (阳平) falling-rising tone (上声) and falling tone (去声) There is one more neutral tone referred to by the Chinese as bdquolight sound‟

(轻声) Each tone has a distinctive pitch contour which can be graphed using the Chinese 5-level system as shown

The reason for having these tones is probably that the Chinese language has only very few possible syllables approximately 400 while English has about 12000 For this reason there are more homophones words with the same sound expressing different meanings in Chinese than in English

Relative pitch changes of the four tones Chinese is a tonal language Mastering the tones is the key to speaking Chinese Every Chinese character is a syllable with a fixed tone If the tone is wrong the meaning is changed right away and in some cases corresponds with no existing Chinese character

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 7

Let‟s see an example While you are reading a book and your brother (or sister or child) keeps on interrupting you You are likely to become annoyed and say ldquoI‟m trying to read a bookrdquo In English this would be said with an emphatic falling tone at the end I am trying to read a book In Chinese 书 (book) has a flat tone I want to read a book

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shū

我 要 看 书

But if you use a falling tone for 书 (book) as in English the meaning changes completely I want to see the tree

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shugrave

我 要 看 树

The Pinyin system uses diacritics to mark the four tones The diacritic marks are placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) Table below describes all the Chinese tones in details

Tone Mark Description

1 st Tone (阴平) ˉ

Flat or High Level Tone Like the reciting ldquoA B C Drdquo

ā ō ē ī ū ǖ

2 nd Tone (阳平) ˊ Rising or High-Rising Tone

Like a surprised ldquoHuhrdquo

aacute oacute eacute iacute uacute ǘ

3 rd Tone (上声) ˇ

Falling-Rising or Low Tone Like an indecisive ldquoWellhelliprdquo

ǎ ǒ ě ǐ ǔ ǚ

4 th Tone (去声) ˋ Falling or High-Falling Tone

Like a purposeful ldquoYesrdquo

agrave ograve egrave igrave ugrave ǜ

5 th Tone (轻声)

Neutral Tone

ɑ o e i u uuml

Notes

The tone marks are placed over the vowels If the letter ldquo i rdquo has

a tone mark over it the dot is omitted

Blues

4392

Blues

432

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 8

Tone Drills

Below are a few characters that have the same pinyin but with 4 different tones Try to read each character aloud and make sure you can pronounce them correctly

Sound Characters

yī yiacute yǐ yigrave

一 宜 椅 亿

wū wuacute wǔ wugrave

屋 无 五 物

yān yaacuten yǎn yagraven

烟 言 眼 燕

mā maacute mǎ magrave

妈 麻 马 骂

bā baacute bǎ bagrave

八 拔 把 爸

xuē xueacute xuě xuegrave

靴 学 雪 血

fēi feacutei fěi fegravei

飞 肥 匪 肺

dī diacute dǐ digrave

低 敌 底 弟

dā daacute dǎ dagrave

搭 答 打 大

tāng taacuteng tǎng tagraveng

汤 糖 躺 烫

yāo yaacuteo yǎo yagraveo

腰 遥 咬 要

qiāng qiaacuteng qiǎng qiagraveng

枪 强 抢 呛

Blues

3312

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Neutral tones

Some syllables in Chinese are toneless or occur in the neutral tone

i Particles are always in the neutral tone eg 了 ( le )的 ( de )

ii The second half of a reduplicated word is often in the neutral tone eg 哥哥(gēge)(elder brother) 妈妈(māma)(mum)爸爸( bagraveba) (dad) 妹妹(megraveimei)(younger sister)

iii Syllables such as zi that only have a bdquofill-in‟ function

(ie to make the word disyllabic) are toneless eg 杯子 (bēizi)(cup) 桌子(zhuōzi)(table) 椅子(yǐzi)(chair)

iv The second syllable in compound words is sometimes toneless and is so indicated in the text In another context it may have a full tone Some people may pronounce certain words with a tone some without as in the word bdquoeast side‟ which may also be pronounced as particularly when bdquor‟ is added

Tones are one of the biggest challenges for Chinese learners but they are indispensable for speaking and understanding Chinese Therefore it is very important to make sure that you get the tones right before you start learning Chinese So practice your tones

Exercise 11

Listen to the tongue twisters below Try to mimic the sound as closely as possible

Tongue Twister 1

A mother who is riding on a horse thinks that it is slow and so she curses it

mā ma qiacute mǎ mǎ magraven mā ma magrave

妈 妈 骑 马 马 慢 妈 妈 骂 马

Tongue Twister 2

A little girl who is herding a cow finds it stubborn and so she pinches it

niū niū gǎn niuacute niuacute nigraveng niū niū

niǔ niuacute

妞 妞 赶 牛 牛 拧 妞 妞 扭 牛

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DAY 2 Rules for Tone Marks

Tone marks (调号) in Hanyu Pinyin should always be placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) not initials When there is only one vowel in a syllable the tone mark is put above the final However when there is more than one final in a row you may be uncertain about which final should take the tone mark For example if you are given 跳 (tiao) is it tigraveao tiagraveo or tiaograve

Here are a few very simple guidelines that help to find the correct final letter for the tone mark (when there is more than one)

1 If there is an bdquoɑ‟ it will always take the tone mark 2 If there is no bdquoɑ‟ bdquoo‟ or bdquoe‟ will take the tone mark (There are

no Chinese syllables in Pinyin that contain both bdquoo‟ and bdquoe‟) 3 Otherwise the second vowel takes the tone mark

The possible vowel combinations are listed below with the vowel that receives the tone marked as second tone

a e i o u uuml

a a i a o

e e i

i ia ia o ie io iu

o o u

u ua ua i ue uiacute uo

uuml uumle

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 11

Exercise 21

Put a correct tone mark on the following syllables

1 bao (抱)- 4th tone

2 guo (果)- 3rd tone

3 tie (铁) - 3rd tone

4 ke (可) - 3rd tone

5 jiao (叫) - 4th tone

6 mou (某) - 3rd tone

7 que (雀)- 4th tone

8 qiu (球)- 2nd tone

9 gui (龟) - 1st tone

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 12

Section 2

Single Finals (单韵母)

There are 6 single finals ( 单韵母 )

a o e i u uuml

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DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

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o

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e

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Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

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DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

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u

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-

v

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Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

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Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

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Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

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Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

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Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

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DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

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Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 3: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 3

While you are under no obligation to do so I would appreciate it if you give me credit for any work of mine that you use and ideally link back to the original If you feel like spreading a copy of this book you may do so without payment

NOTICE OF LIABILITY

The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information herein However the information contained in this book is distributed without warranty either express or implied

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 4

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Day 1 Tones helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 6

Day 2 Rules of Tone Marks helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 10

Day 3 a o e helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 13

Day 4 i u uuml helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 15

Day 5 b p m f helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 19

Day 6 d t n l helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23

Day 7 g k h helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26

Day 8 j q x helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 29

Day 9 zh ch sh r helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 31

Day 10 z c s helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 34

Day 11 y w helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 37

Day 12 ai ei ui helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 41

Day 13 ao ou iu helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 43

Day 14 ie uumle helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45

Day 15 er helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 48

Day 16 an en helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 51

Day 17 in un uumln helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 53

Day 18 ang eng ing ong helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 56

Day 19 ia iao helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 58

Day 20 ian iang iong helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 60

Day 21 ua uo uai helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 62

Day 22 uan uang uumlan helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 64

Day 23 Spelling Rules helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 68

Day 24 Changes of Tones helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 73

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 5

Section 1

Tones (声调)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 6

DAY 1 Tones

In English tones are used to indicate whether a sentence is a general statement a request or a command Changing the tone in English will change the mood or the emphasis of the sentence but not the meaning of the sentence In Chinese each word has a tone If you do not use the right tone it could completely change the meaning of the word

Chinese tones (声调) are especially difficult for Western learners Comparing to English which only has rising tone and falling tone Chinese has four tones including upper tone (阴平) lower even (阳平) falling-rising tone (上声) and falling tone (去声) There is one more neutral tone referred to by the Chinese as bdquolight sound‟

(轻声) Each tone has a distinctive pitch contour which can be graphed using the Chinese 5-level system as shown

The reason for having these tones is probably that the Chinese language has only very few possible syllables approximately 400 while English has about 12000 For this reason there are more homophones words with the same sound expressing different meanings in Chinese than in English

Relative pitch changes of the four tones Chinese is a tonal language Mastering the tones is the key to speaking Chinese Every Chinese character is a syllable with a fixed tone If the tone is wrong the meaning is changed right away and in some cases corresponds with no existing Chinese character

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 7

Let‟s see an example While you are reading a book and your brother (or sister or child) keeps on interrupting you You are likely to become annoyed and say ldquoI‟m trying to read a bookrdquo In English this would be said with an emphatic falling tone at the end I am trying to read a book In Chinese 书 (book) has a flat tone I want to read a book

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shū

我 要 看 书

But if you use a falling tone for 书 (book) as in English the meaning changes completely I want to see the tree

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shugrave

我 要 看 树

The Pinyin system uses diacritics to mark the four tones The diacritic marks are placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) Table below describes all the Chinese tones in details

Tone Mark Description

1 st Tone (阴平) ˉ

Flat or High Level Tone Like the reciting ldquoA B C Drdquo

ā ō ē ī ū ǖ

2 nd Tone (阳平) ˊ Rising or High-Rising Tone

Like a surprised ldquoHuhrdquo

aacute oacute eacute iacute uacute ǘ

3 rd Tone (上声) ˇ

Falling-Rising or Low Tone Like an indecisive ldquoWellhelliprdquo

ǎ ǒ ě ǐ ǔ ǚ

4 th Tone (去声) ˋ Falling or High-Falling Tone

Like a purposeful ldquoYesrdquo

agrave ograve egrave igrave ugrave ǜ

5 th Tone (轻声)

Neutral Tone

ɑ o e i u uuml

Notes

The tone marks are placed over the vowels If the letter ldquo i rdquo has

a tone mark over it the dot is omitted

Blues

4392

Blues

432

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 8

Tone Drills

Below are a few characters that have the same pinyin but with 4 different tones Try to read each character aloud and make sure you can pronounce them correctly

Sound Characters

yī yiacute yǐ yigrave

一 宜 椅 亿

wū wuacute wǔ wugrave

屋 无 五 物

yān yaacuten yǎn yagraven

烟 言 眼 燕

mā maacute mǎ magrave

妈 麻 马 骂

bā baacute bǎ bagrave

八 拔 把 爸

xuē xueacute xuě xuegrave

靴 学 雪 血

fēi feacutei fěi fegravei

飞 肥 匪 肺

dī diacute dǐ digrave

低 敌 底 弟

dā daacute dǎ dagrave

搭 答 打 大

tāng taacuteng tǎng tagraveng

汤 糖 躺 烫

yāo yaacuteo yǎo yagraveo

腰 遥 咬 要

qiāng qiaacuteng qiǎng qiagraveng

枪 强 抢 呛

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

36

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

3888

Blues

3816

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

3744

Blues

3456

Blues

3744

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 9

Neutral tones

Some syllables in Chinese are toneless or occur in the neutral tone

i Particles are always in the neutral tone eg 了 ( le )的 ( de )

ii The second half of a reduplicated word is often in the neutral tone eg 哥哥(gēge)(elder brother) 妈妈(māma)(mum)爸爸( bagraveba) (dad) 妹妹(megraveimei)(younger sister)

iii Syllables such as zi that only have a bdquofill-in‟ function

(ie to make the word disyllabic) are toneless eg 杯子 (bēizi)(cup) 桌子(zhuōzi)(table) 椅子(yǐzi)(chair)

iv The second syllable in compound words is sometimes toneless and is so indicated in the text In another context it may have a full tone Some people may pronounce certain words with a tone some without as in the word bdquoeast side‟ which may also be pronounced as particularly when bdquor‟ is added

Tones are one of the biggest challenges for Chinese learners but they are indispensable for speaking and understanding Chinese Therefore it is very important to make sure that you get the tones right before you start learning Chinese So practice your tones

Exercise 11

Listen to the tongue twisters below Try to mimic the sound as closely as possible

Tongue Twister 1

A mother who is riding on a horse thinks that it is slow and so she curses it

mā ma qiacute mǎ mǎ magraven mā ma magrave

妈 妈 骑 马 马 慢 妈 妈 骂 马

Tongue Twister 2

A little girl who is herding a cow finds it stubborn and so she pinches it

niū niū gǎn niuacute niuacute nigraveng niū niū

niǔ niuacute

妞 妞 赶 牛 牛 拧 妞 妞 扭 牛

Blues

2562802

Blues

2968761

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 10

DAY 2 Rules for Tone Marks

Tone marks (调号) in Hanyu Pinyin should always be placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) not initials When there is only one vowel in a syllable the tone mark is put above the final However when there is more than one final in a row you may be uncertain about which final should take the tone mark For example if you are given 跳 (tiao) is it tigraveao tiagraveo or tiaograve

Here are a few very simple guidelines that help to find the correct final letter for the tone mark (when there is more than one)

1 If there is an bdquoɑ‟ it will always take the tone mark 2 If there is no bdquoɑ‟ bdquoo‟ or bdquoe‟ will take the tone mark (There are

no Chinese syllables in Pinyin that contain both bdquoo‟ and bdquoe‟) 3 Otherwise the second vowel takes the tone mark

The possible vowel combinations are listed below with the vowel that receives the tone marked as second tone

a e i o u uuml

a a i a o

e e i

i ia ia o ie io iu

o o u

u ua ua i ue uiacute uo

uuml uumle

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 11

Exercise 21

Put a correct tone mark on the following syllables

1 bao (抱)- 4th tone

2 guo (果)- 3rd tone

3 tie (铁) - 3rd tone

4 ke (可) - 3rd tone

5 jiao (叫) - 4th tone

6 mou (某) - 3rd tone

7 que (雀)- 4th tone

8 qiu (球)- 2nd tone

9 gui (龟) - 1st tone

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 12

Section 2

Single Finals (单韵母)

There are 6 single finals ( 单韵母 )

a o e i u uuml

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 13

DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

33697677

o

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

33434005

e

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

32026658

null

Blues

07314283

null

Blues

214204

null

Blues

19330605

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 14

Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

null

Blues

966531

null

Blues

17423603

null

Blues

131395445

null

Blues

2925717

null

Blues

51983795

null

Blues

51983795

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 15

DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

35434544

-

v

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

32264478

null

Blues

15151014

null

Blues

18546932

null

Blues

2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 16

Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

null

Blues

4571438

null

Blues

6870223

null

Blues

60865464

null

Blues

7366552

null

Blues

5172257

null

Blues

7105326

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 17

Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

null

Blues

44669476

null

Blues

7993493

null

Blues

5120012

null

Blues

2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 18

Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

2504897

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

26682167

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

31683254

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29174683

null

Blues

7235939

null

Blues

4623683

null

Blues

8333084

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

null

Blues

6112669

null

Blues

5877566

null

Blues

58253207

null

Blues

68963456

null

Blues

62171593

null

Blues

73143067

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 21

Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

Blues

1836198

null

Blues

18463177

null

Blues

15621141

null

Blues

841145

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

Blues

58514433

null

Blues

7941248

null

Blues

4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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u

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-

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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uei

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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ve

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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Blues

33499856

vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 4: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 4

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Day 1 Tones helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 6

Day 2 Rules of Tone Marks helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 10

Day 3 a o e helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 13

Day 4 i u uuml helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 15

Day 5 b p m f helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 19

Day 6 d t n l helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23

Day 7 g k h helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26

Day 8 j q x helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 29

Day 9 zh ch sh r helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 31

Day 10 z c s helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 34

Day 11 y w helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 37

Day 12 ai ei ui helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 41

Day 13 ao ou iu helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 43

Day 14 ie uumle helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45

Day 15 er helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 48

Day 16 an en helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 51

Day 17 in un uumln helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 53

Day 18 ang eng ing ong helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 56

Day 19 ia iao helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 58

Day 20 ian iang iong helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 60

Day 21 ua uo uai helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 62

Day 22 uan uang uumlan helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 64

Day 23 Spelling Rules helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 68

Day 24 Changes of Tones helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 73

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 5

Section 1

Tones (声调)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 6

DAY 1 Tones

In English tones are used to indicate whether a sentence is a general statement a request or a command Changing the tone in English will change the mood or the emphasis of the sentence but not the meaning of the sentence In Chinese each word has a tone If you do not use the right tone it could completely change the meaning of the word

Chinese tones (声调) are especially difficult for Western learners Comparing to English which only has rising tone and falling tone Chinese has four tones including upper tone (阴平) lower even (阳平) falling-rising tone (上声) and falling tone (去声) There is one more neutral tone referred to by the Chinese as bdquolight sound‟

(轻声) Each tone has a distinctive pitch contour which can be graphed using the Chinese 5-level system as shown

The reason for having these tones is probably that the Chinese language has only very few possible syllables approximately 400 while English has about 12000 For this reason there are more homophones words with the same sound expressing different meanings in Chinese than in English

Relative pitch changes of the four tones Chinese is a tonal language Mastering the tones is the key to speaking Chinese Every Chinese character is a syllable with a fixed tone If the tone is wrong the meaning is changed right away and in some cases corresponds with no existing Chinese character

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 7

Let‟s see an example While you are reading a book and your brother (or sister or child) keeps on interrupting you You are likely to become annoyed and say ldquoI‟m trying to read a bookrdquo In English this would be said with an emphatic falling tone at the end I am trying to read a book In Chinese 书 (book) has a flat tone I want to read a book

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shū

我 要 看 书

But if you use a falling tone for 书 (book) as in English the meaning changes completely I want to see the tree

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shugrave

我 要 看 树

The Pinyin system uses diacritics to mark the four tones The diacritic marks are placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) Table below describes all the Chinese tones in details

Tone Mark Description

1 st Tone (阴平) ˉ

Flat or High Level Tone Like the reciting ldquoA B C Drdquo

ā ō ē ī ū ǖ

2 nd Tone (阳平) ˊ Rising or High-Rising Tone

Like a surprised ldquoHuhrdquo

aacute oacute eacute iacute uacute ǘ

3 rd Tone (上声) ˇ

Falling-Rising or Low Tone Like an indecisive ldquoWellhelliprdquo

ǎ ǒ ě ǐ ǔ ǚ

4 th Tone (去声) ˋ Falling or High-Falling Tone

Like a purposeful ldquoYesrdquo

agrave ograve egrave igrave ugrave ǜ

5 th Tone (轻声)

Neutral Tone

ɑ o e i u uuml

Notes

The tone marks are placed over the vowels If the letter ldquo i rdquo has

a tone mark over it the dot is omitted

Blues

4392

Blues

432

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 8

Tone Drills

Below are a few characters that have the same pinyin but with 4 different tones Try to read each character aloud and make sure you can pronounce them correctly

Sound Characters

yī yiacute yǐ yigrave

一 宜 椅 亿

wū wuacute wǔ wugrave

屋 无 五 物

yān yaacuten yǎn yagraven

烟 言 眼 燕

mā maacute mǎ magrave

妈 麻 马 骂

bā baacute bǎ bagrave

八 拔 把 爸

xuē xueacute xuě xuegrave

靴 学 雪 血

fēi feacutei fěi fegravei

飞 肥 匪 肺

dī diacute dǐ digrave

低 敌 底 弟

dā daacute dǎ dagrave

搭 答 打 大

tāng taacuteng tǎng tagraveng

汤 糖 躺 烫

yāo yaacuteo yǎo yagraveo

腰 遥 咬 要

qiāng qiaacuteng qiǎng qiagraveng

枪 强 抢 呛

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

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36

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

3888

Blues

3816

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

3744

Blues

3456

Blues

3744

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 9

Neutral tones

Some syllables in Chinese are toneless or occur in the neutral tone

i Particles are always in the neutral tone eg 了 ( le )的 ( de )

ii The second half of a reduplicated word is often in the neutral tone eg 哥哥(gēge)(elder brother) 妈妈(māma)(mum)爸爸( bagraveba) (dad) 妹妹(megraveimei)(younger sister)

iii Syllables such as zi that only have a bdquofill-in‟ function

(ie to make the word disyllabic) are toneless eg 杯子 (bēizi)(cup) 桌子(zhuōzi)(table) 椅子(yǐzi)(chair)

iv The second syllable in compound words is sometimes toneless and is so indicated in the text In another context it may have a full tone Some people may pronounce certain words with a tone some without as in the word bdquoeast side‟ which may also be pronounced as particularly when bdquor‟ is added

Tones are one of the biggest challenges for Chinese learners but they are indispensable for speaking and understanding Chinese Therefore it is very important to make sure that you get the tones right before you start learning Chinese So practice your tones

Exercise 11

Listen to the tongue twisters below Try to mimic the sound as closely as possible

Tongue Twister 1

A mother who is riding on a horse thinks that it is slow and so she curses it

mā ma qiacute mǎ mǎ magraven mā ma magrave

妈 妈 骑 马 马 慢 妈 妈 骂 马

Tongue Twister 2

A little girl who is herding a cow finds it stubborn and so she pinches it

niū niū gǎn niuacute niuacute nigraveng niū niū

niǔ niuacute

妞 妞 赶 牛 牛 拧 妞 妞 扭 牛

Blues

2562802

Blues

2968761

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 10

DAY 2 Rules for Tone Marks

Tone marks (调号) in Hanyu Pinyin should always be placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) not initials When there is only one vowel in a syllable the tone mark is put above the final However when there is more than one final in a row you may be uncertain about which final should take the tone mark For example if you are given 跳 (tiao) is it tigraveao tiagraveo or tiaograve

Here are a few very simple guidelines that help to find the correct final letter for the tone mark (when there is more than one)

1 If there is an bdquoɑ‟ it will always take the tone mark 2 If there is no bdquoɑ‟ bdquoo‟ or bdquoe‟ will take the tone mark (There are

no Chinese syllables in Pinyin that contain both bdquoo‟ and bdquoe‟) 3 Otherwise the second vowel takes the tone mark

The possible vowel combinations are listed below with the vowel that receives the tone marked as second tone

a e i o u uuml

a a i a o

e e i

i ia ia o ie io iu

o o u

u ua ua i ue uiacute uo

uuml uumle

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 11

Exercise 21

Put a correct tone mark on the following syllables

1 bao (抱)- 4th tone

2 guo (果)- 3rd tone

3 tie (铁) - 3rd tone

4 ke (可) - 3rd tone

5 jiao (叫) - 4th tone

6 mou (某) - 3rd tone

7 que (雀)- 4th tone

8 qiu (球)- 2nd tone

9 gui (龟) - 1st tone

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 12

Section 2

Single Finals (单韵母)

There are 6 single finals ( 单韵母 )

a o e i u uuml

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 13

DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

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Blues

33697677

o

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

33434005

e

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Blues

32026658

null

Blues

07314283

null

Blues

214204

null

Blues

19330605

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 14

Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

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966531

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17423603

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131395445

null

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2925717

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51983795

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51983795

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 15

DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

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Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

35434544

-

v

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

32264478

null

Blues

15151014

null

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18546932

null

Blues

2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 16

Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

null

Blues

4571438

null

Blues

6870223

null

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60865464

null

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7366552

null

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5172257

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Blues

7105326

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 17

Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

null

Blues

44669476

null

Blues

7993493

null

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5120012

null

Blues

2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 18

Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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Other

2504897

pinyin

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Other

26682167

pinyin

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Other

31683254

pinyin

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Other

29174683

null

Blues

7235939

null

Blues

4623683

null

Blues

8333084

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

null

Blues

6112669

null

Blues

5877566

null

Blues

58253207

null

Blues

68963456

null

Blues

62171593

null

Blues

73143067

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 21

Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

Blues

1836198

null

Blues

18463177

null

Blues

15621141

null

Blues

841145

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

Blues

58514433

null

Blues

7941248

null

Blues

4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

27409513

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

28089514

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

30972507

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

28484616

null

Blues

63738947

null

Blues

903838

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 24

Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

null

Blues

58514433

null

Blues

60343013

null

Blues

7053081

null

Blues

60865464

null

Blues

7105326

null

Blues

61387916

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

null

Blues

8045738

null

Blues

5093889

null

Blues

78367577

null

Blues

79673705

null

Blues

81502285

null

Blues

10396728

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 26

DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25545301

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29056864

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

3102203

null

Blues

6556752

null

Blues

5982056

null

Blues

75232873

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

null

Blues

5877566

null

Blues

4806541

null

Blues

754941

null

Blues

4571438

null

Blues

8385328

null

Blues

45191927

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

null

Blues

15621141

null

Blues

23248982

null

Blues

24816337

null

Blues

30563297

null

Blues

22987757

null

Blues

2690614

null

Blues

26122463

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

34546926

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

3000516

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

28628561

null

Blues

89861355

null

Blues

7471042

null

Blues

6556752

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

null

Blues

19748554

null

Blues

14524014

null

Blues

15908484

null

Blues

7471042

null

Blues

7601655

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

34803798

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

329306

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

31059582

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

Blues

17893818

null

Blues

16979511

null

Blues

15333798

null

Blues

12042418

null

Blues

1635256

null

Blues

14184427

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

null

Blues

75755324

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4858786

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428409

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25731692

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

29200535

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

31031554

null

Blues

13792597

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16143583

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Blues

14941968

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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u

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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ei

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uei

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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30019312

ou

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3195373

iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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ve

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

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24635093

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2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

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19575232

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20944755

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1432952

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15103669

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1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

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24764345

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25362167

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2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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10274827

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06596462

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1060408

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060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 5: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 5

Section 1

Tones (声调)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 6

DAY 1 Tones

In English tones are used to indicate whether a sentence is a general statement a request or a command Changing the tone in English will change the mood or the emphasis of the sentence but not the meaning of the sentence In Chinese each word has a tone If you do not use the right tone it could completely change the meaning of the word

Chinese tones (声调) are especially difficult for Western learners Comparing to English which only has rising tone and falling tone Chinese has four tones including upper tone (阴平) lower even (阳平) falling-rising tone (上声) and falling tone (去声) There is one more neutral tone referred to by the Chinese as bdquolight sound‟

(轻声) Each tone has a distinctive pitch contour which can be graphed using the Chinese 5-level system as shown

The reason for having these tones is probably that the Chinese language has only very few possible syllables approximately 400 while English has about 12000 For this reason there are more homophones words with the same sound expressing different meanings in Chinese than in English

Relative pitch changes of the four tones Chinese is a tonal language Mastering the tones is the key to speaking Chinese Every Chinese character is a syllable with a fixed tone If the tone is wrong the meaning is changed right away and in some cases corresponds with no existing Chinese character

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 7

Let‟s see an example While you are reading a book and your brother (or sister or child) keeps on interrupting you You are likely to become annoyed and say ldquoI‟m trying to read a bookrdquo In English this would be said with an emphatic falling tone at the end I am trying to read a book In Chinese 书 (book) has a flat tone I want to read a book

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shū

我 要 看 书

But if you use a falling tone for 书 (book) as in English the meaning changes completely I want to see the tree

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shugrave

我 要 看 树

The Pinyin system uses diacritics to mark the four tones The diacritic marks are placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) Table below describes all the Chinese tones in details

Tone Mark Description

1 st Tone (阴平) ˉ

Flat or High Level Tone Like the reciting ldquoA B C Drdquo

ā ō ē ī ū ǖ

2 nd Tone (阳平) ˊ Rising or High-Rising Tone

Like a surprised ldquoHuhrdquo

aacute oacute eacute iacute uacute ǘ

3 rd Tone (上声) ˇ

Falling-Rising or Low Tone Like an indecisive ldquoWellhelliprdquo

ǎ ǒ ě ǐ ǔ ǚ

4 th Tone (去声) ˋ Falling or High-Falling Tone

Like a purposeful ldquoYesrdquo

agrave ograve egrave igrave ugrave ǜ

5 th Tone (轻声)

Neutral Tone

ɑ o e i u uuml

Notes

The tone marks are placed over the vowels If the letter ldquo i rdquo has

a tone mark over it the dot is omitted

Blues

4392

Blues

432

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 8

Tone Drills

Below are a few characters that have the same pinyin but with 4 different tones Try to read each character aloud and make sure you can pronounce them correctly

Sound Characters

yī yiacute yǐ yigrave

一 宜 椅 亿

wū wuacute wǔ wugrave

屋 无 五 物

yān yaacuten yǎn yagraven

烟 言 眼 燕

mā maacute mǎ magrave

妈 麻 马 骂

bā baacute bǎ bagrave

八 拔 把 爸

xuē xueacute xuě xuegrave

靴 学 雪 血

fēi feacutei fěi fegravei

飞 肥 匪 肺

dī diacute dǐ digrave

低 敌 底 弟

dā daacute dǎ dagrave

搭 答 打 大

tāng taacuteng tǎng tagraveng

汤 糖 躺 烫

yāo yaacuteo yǎo yagraveo

腰 遥 咬 要

qiāng qiaacuteng qiǎng qiagraveng

枪 强 抢 呛

Blues

3312

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3384

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36

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

3888

Blues

3816

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

3744

Blues

3456

Blues

3744

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 9

Neutral tones

Some syllables in Chinese are toneless or occur in the neutral tone

i Particles are always in the neutral tone eg 了 ( le )的 ( de )

ii The second half of a reduplicated word is often in the neutral tone eg 哥哥(gēge)(elder brother) 妈妈(māma)(mum)爸爸( bagraveba) (dad) 妹妹(megraveimei)(younger sister)

iii Syllables such as zi that only have a bdquofill-in‟ function

(ie to make the word disyllabic) are toneless eg 杯子 (bēizi)(cup) 桌子(zhuōzi)(table) 椅子(yǐzi)(chair)

iv The second syllable in compound words is sometimes toneless and is so indicated in the text In another context it may have a full tone Some people may pronounce certain words with a tone some without as in the word bdquoeast side‟ which may also be pronounced as particularly when bdquor‟ is added

Tones are one of the biggest challenges for Chinese learners but they are indispensable for speaking and understanding Chinese Therefore it is very important to make sure that you get the tones right before you start learning Chinese So practice your tones

Exercise 11

Listen to the tongue twisters below Try to mimic the sound as closely as possible

Tongue Twister 1

A mother who is riding on a horse thinks that it is slow and so she curses it

mā ma qiacute mǎ mǎ magraven mā ma magrave

妈 妈 骑 马 马 慢 妈 妈 骂 马

Tongue Twister 2

A little girl who is herding a cow finds it stubborn and so she pinches it

niū niū gǎn niuacute niuacute nigraveng niū niū

niǔ niuacute

妞 妞 赶 牛 牛 拧 妞 妞 扭 牛

Blues

2562802

Blues

2968761

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 10

DAY 2 Rules for Tone Marks

Tone marks (调号) in Hanyu Pinyin should always be placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) not initials When there is only one vowel in a syllable the tone mark is put above the final However when there is more than one final in a row you may be uncertain about which final should take the tone mark For example if you are given 跳 (tiao) is it tigraveao tiagraveo or tiaograve

Here are a few very simple guidelines that help to find the correct final letter for the tone mark (when there is more than one)

1 If there is an bdquoɑ‟ it will always take the tone mark 2 If there is no bdquoɑ‟ bdquoo‟ or bdquoe‟ will take the tone mark (There are

no Chinese syllables in Pinyin that contain both bdquoo‟ and bdquoe‟) 3 Otherwise the second vowel takes the tone mark

The possible vowel combinations are listed below with the vowel that receives the tone marked as second tone

a e i o u uuml

a a i a o

e e i

i ia ia o ie io iu

o o u

u ua ua i ue uiacute uo

uuml uumle

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 11

Exercise 21

Put a correct tone mark on the following syllables

1 bao (抱)- 4th tone

2 guo (果)- 3rd tone

3 tie (铁) - 3rd tone

4 ke (可) - 3rd tone

5 jiao (叫) - 4th tone

6 mou (某) - 3rd tone

7 que (雀)- 4th tone

8 qiu (球)- 2nd tone

9 gui (龟) - 1st tone

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 12

Section 2

Single Finals (单韵母)

There are 6 single finals ( 单韵母 )

a o e i u uuml

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 13

DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

33697677

o

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

33434005

e

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

32026658

null

Blues

07314283

null

Blues

214204

null

Blues

19330605

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 14

Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

null

Blues

966531

null

Blues

17423603

null

Blues

131395445

null

Blues

2925717

null

Blues

51983795

null

Blues

51983795

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 15

DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

35434544

-

v

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

32264478

null

Blues

15151014

null

Blues

18546932

null

Blues

2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 16

Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

null

Blues

4571438

null

Blues

6870223

null

Blues

60865464

null

Blues

7366552

null

Blues

5172257

null

Blues

7105326

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 17

Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

null

Blues

44669476

null

Blues

7993493

null

Blues

5120012

null

Blues

2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 18

Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

2504897

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

26682167

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

31683254

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29174683

null

Blues

7235939

null

Blues

4623683

null

Blues

8333084

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

null

Blues

6112669

null

Blues

5877566

null

Blues

58253207

null

Blues

68963456

null

Blues

62171593

null

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Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

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Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

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DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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27409513

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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25545301

pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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u

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-

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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ei

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uei

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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30019312

ou

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3195373

iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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31817405

ve

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Blues

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en

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 12

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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Blues

2945686

uen

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Blues

33499856

vn

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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29861758

iang

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iong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 6: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 6

DAY 1 Tones

In English tones are used to indicate whether a sentence is a general statement a request or a command Changing the tone in English will change the mood or the emphasis of the sentence but not the meaning of the sentence In Chinese each word has a tone If you do not use the right tone it could completely change the meaning of the word

Chinese tones (声调) are especially difficult for Western learners Comparing to English which only has rising tone and falling tone Chinese has four tones including upper tone (阴平) lower even (阳平) falling-rising tone (上声) and falling tone (去声) There is one more neutral tone referred to by the Chinese as bdquolight sound‟

(轻声) Each tone has a distinctive pitch contour which can be graphed using the Chinese 5-level system as shown

The reason for having these tones is probably that the Chinese language has only very few possible syllables approximately 400 while English has about 12000 For this reason there are more homophones words with the same sound expressing different meanings in Chinese than in English

Relative pitch changes of the four tones Chinese is a tonal language Mastering the tones is the key to speaking Chinese Every Chinese character is a syllable with a fixed tone If the tone is wrong the meaning is changed right away and in some cases corresponds with no existing Chinese character

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 7

Let‟s see an example While you are reading a book and your brother (or sister or child) keeps on interrupting you You are likely to become annoyed and say ldquoI‟m trying to read a bookrdquo In English this would be said with an emphatic falling tone at the end I am trying to read a book In Chinese 书 (book) has a flat tone I want to read a book

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shū

我 要 看 书

But if you use a falling tone for 书 (book) as in English the meaning changes completely I want to see the tree

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shugrave

我 要 看 树

The Pinyin system uses diacritics to mark the four tones The diacritic marks are placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) Table below describes all the Chinese tones in details

Tone Mark Description

1 st Tone (阴平) ˉ

Flat or High Level Tone Like the reciting ldquoA B C Drdquo

ā ō ē ī ū ǖ

2 nd Tone (阳平) ˊ Rising or High-Rising Tone

Like a surprised ldquoHuhrdquo

aacute oacute eacute iacute uacute ǘ

3 rd Tone (上声) ˇ

Falling-Rising or Low Tone Like an indecisive ldquoWellhelliprdquo

ǎ ǒ ě ǐ ǔ ǚ

4 th Tone (去声) ˋ Falling or High-Falling Tone

Like a purposeful ldquoYesrdquo

agrave ograve egrave igrave ugrave ǜ

5 th Tone (轻声)

Neutral Tone

ɑ o e i u uuml

Notes

The tone marks are placed over the vowels If the letter ldquo i rdquo has

a tone mark over it the dot is omitted

Blues

4392

Blues

432

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 8

Tone Drills

Below are a few characters that have the same pinyin but with 4 different tones Try to read each character aloud and make sure you can pronounce them correctly

Sound Characters

yī yiacute yǐ yigrave

一 宜 椅 亿

wū wuacute wǔ wugrave

屋 无 五 物

yān yaacuten yǎn yagraven

烟 言 眼 燕

mā maacute mǎ magrave

妈 麻 马 骂

bā baacute bǎ bagrave

八 拔 把 爸

xuē xueacute xuě xuegrave

靴 学 雪 血

fēi feacutei fěi fegravei

飞 肥 匪 肺

dī diacute dǐ digrave

低 敌 底 弟

dā daacute dǎ dagrave

搭 答 打 大

tāng taacuteng tǎng tagraveng

汤 糖 躺 烫

yāo yaacuteo yǎo yagraveo

腰 遥 咬 要

qiāng qiaacuteng qiǎng qiagraveng

枪 强 抢 呛

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

36

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

3888

Blues

3816

Blues

3312

Blues

3384

Blues

3744

Blues

3456

Blues

3744

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 9

Neutral tones

Some syllables in Chinese are toneless or occur in the neutral tone

i Particles are always in the neutral tone eg 了 ( le )的 ( de )

ii The second half of a reduplicated word is often in the neutral tone eg 哥哥(gēge)(elder brother) 妈妈(māma)(mum)爸爸( bagraveba) (dad) 妹妹(megraveimei)(younger sister)

iii Syllables such as zi that only have a bdquofill-in‟ function

(ie to make the word disyllabic) are toneless eg 杯子 (bēizi)(cup) 桌子(zhuōzi)(table) 椅子(yǐzi)(chair)

iv The second syllable in compound words is sometimes toneless and is so indicated in the text In another context it may have a full tone Some people may pronounce certain words with a tone some without as in the word bdquoeast side‟ which may also be pronounced as particularly when bdquor‟ is added

Tones are one of the biggest challenges for Chinese learners but they are indispensable for speaking and understanding Chinese Therefore it is very important to make sure that you get the tones right before you start learning Chinese So practice your tones

Exercise 11

Listen to the tongue twisters below Try to mimic the sound as closely as possible

Tongue Twister 1

A mother who is riding on a horse thinks that it is slow and so she curses it

mā ma qiacute mǎ mǎ magraven mā ma magrave

妈 妈 骑 马 马 慢 妈 妈 骂 马

Tongue Twister 2

A little girl who is herding a cow finds it stubborn and so she pinches it

niū niū gǎn niuacute niuacute nigraveng niū niū

niǔ niuacute

妞 妞 赶 牛 牛 拧 妞 妞 扭 牛

Blues

2562802

Blues

2968761

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 10

DAY 2 Rules for Tone Marks

Tone marks (调号) in Hanyu Pinyin should always be placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) not initials When there is only one vowel in a syllable the tone mark is put above the final However when there is more than one final in a row you may be uncertain about which final should take the tone mark For example if you are given 跳 (tiao) is it tigraveao tiagraveo or tiaograve

Here are a few very simple guidelines that help to find the correct final letter for the tone mark (when there is more than one)

1 If there is an bdquoɑ‟ it will always take the tone mark 2 If there is no bdquoɑ‟ bdquoo‟ or bdquoe‟ will take the tone mark (There are

no Chinese syllables in Pinyin that contain both bdquoo‟ and bdquoe‟) 3 Otherwise the second vowel takes the tone mark

The possible vowel combinations are listed below with the vowel that receives the tone marked as second tone

a e i o u uuml

a a i a o

e e i

i ia ia o ie io iu

o o u

u ua ua i ue uiacute uo

uuml uumle

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 11

Exercise 21

Put a correct tone mark on the following syllables

1 bao (抱)- 4th tone

2 guo (果)- 3rd tone

3 tie (铁) - 3rd tone

4 ke (可) - 3rd tone

5 jiao (叫) - 4th tone

6 mou (某) - 3rd tone

7 que (雀)- 4th tone

8 qiu (球)- 2nd tone

9 gui (龟) - 1st tone

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 12

Section 2

Single Finals (单韵母)

There are 6 single finals ( 单韵母 )

a o e i u uuml

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 13

DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

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33697677

o

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33434005

e

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Blues

32026658

null

Blues

07314283

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214204

null

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19330605

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 14

Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

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966531

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17423603

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131395445

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2925717

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51983795

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51983795

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 15

DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

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Blues

33925974

u

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Blues

35434544

-

v

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Blues

32264478

null

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15151014

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18546932

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2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 16

Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

null

Blues

4571438

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6870223

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60865464

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7366552

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5172257

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 17

Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

null

Blues

44669476

null

Blues

7993493

null

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5120012

null

Blues

2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 18

Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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Other

2504897

pinyin

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26682167

pinyin

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Other

31683254

pinyin

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Other

29174683

null

Blues

7235939

null

Blues

4623683

null

Blues

8333084

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

null

Blues

6112669

null

Blues

5877566

null

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58253207

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68963456

null

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62171593

null

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73143067

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 21

Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

Blues

1836198

null

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18463177

null

Blues

15621141

null

Blues

841145

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

Blues

58514433

null

Blues

7941248

null

Blues

4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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Other

27409513

pinyin

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Other

28089514

pinyin

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Other

30972507

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

28484616

null

Blues

63738947

null

Blues

903838

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 24

Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

null

Blues

58514433

null

Blues

60343013

null

Blues

7053081

null

Blues

60865464

null

Blues

7105326

null

Blues

61387916

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

null

Blues

8045738

null

Blues

5093889

null

Blues

78367577

null

Blues

79673705

null

Blues

81502285

null

Blues

10396728

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 26

DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Other

25545301

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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29056864

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

3102203

null

Blues

6556752

null

Blues

5982056

null

Blues

75232873

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

null

Blues

5877566

null

Blues

4806541

null

Blues

754941

null

Blues

4571438

null

Blues

8385328

null

Blues

45191927

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

null

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15621141

null

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23248982

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24816337

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Blues

30563297

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Blues

22987757

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Blues

2690614

null

Blues

26122463

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Other

34546926

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

3000516

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

28628561

null

Blues

89861355

null

Blues

7471042

null

Blues

6556752

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

null

Blues

19748554

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14524014

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15908484

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7471042

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

34803798

pinyin

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Other

329306

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

31059582

pinyin

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32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

Blues

17893818

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16979511

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15333798

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12042418

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1635256

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14184427

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

null

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75755324

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4858786

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

25731692

pinyin

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29200535

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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31031554

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13792597

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16143583

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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71210175

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22081356

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

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24635093

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26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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17762989

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15103669

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1550367

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20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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22147477

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25362167

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2455972

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26122167

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21587477

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23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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10274827

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 7: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 7

Let‟s see an example While you are reading a book and your brother (or sister or child) keeps on interrupting you You are likely to become annoyed and say ldquoI‟m trying to read a bookrdquo In English this would be said with an emphatic falling tone at the end I am trying to read a book In Chinese 书 (book) has a flat tone I want to read a book

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shū

我 要 看 书

But if you use a falling tone for 书 (book) as in English the meaning changes completely I want to see the tree

wǒ yagraveo kagraven shugrave

我 要 看 树

The Pinyin system uses diacritics to mark the four tones The diacritic marks are placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) Table below describes all the Chinese tones in details

Tone Mark Description

1 st Tone (阴平) ˉ

Flat or High Level Tone Like the reciting ldquoA B C Drdquo

ā ō ē ī ū ǖ

2 nd Tone (阳平) ˊ Rising or High-Rising Tone

Like a surprised ldquoHuhrdquo

aacute oacute eacute iacute uacute ǘ

3 rd Tone (上声) ˇ

Falling-Rising or Low Tone Like an indecisive ldquoWellhelliprdquo

ǎ ǒ ě ǐ ǔ ǚ

4 th Tone (去声) ˋ Falling or High-Falling Tone

Like a purposeful ldquoYesrdquo

agrave ograve egrave igrave ugrave ǜ

5 th Tone (轻声)

Neutral Tone

ɑ o e i u uuml

Notes

The tone marks are placed over the vowels If the letter ldquo i rdquo has

a tone mark over it the dot is omitted

Blues

4392

Blues

432

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 8

Tone Drills

Below are a few characters that have the same pinyin but with 4 different tones Try to read each character aloud and make sure you can pronounce them correctly

Sound Characters

yī yiacute yǐ yigrave

一 宜 椅 亿

wū wuacute wǔ wugrave

屋 无 五 物

yān yaacuten yǎn yagraven

烟 言 眼 燕

mā maacute mǎ magrave

妈 麻 马 骂

bā baacute bǎ bagrave

八 拔 把 爸

xuē xueacute xuě xuegrave

靴 学 雪 血

fēi feacutei fěi fegravei

飞 肥 匪 肺

dī diacute dǐ digrave

低 敌 底 弟

dā daacute dǎ dagrave

搭 答 打 大

tāng taacuteng tǎng tagraveng

汤 糖 躺 烫

yāo yaacuteo yǎo yagraveo

腰 遥 咬 要

qiāng qiaacuteng qiǎng qiagraveng

枪 强 抢 呛

Blues

3312

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3384

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36

Blues

3312

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3384

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3888

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3816

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3312

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3384

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3744

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3456

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3744

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 9

Neutral tones

Some syllables in Chinese are toneless or occur in the neutral tone

i Particles are always in the neutral tone eg 了 ( le )的 ( de )

ii The second half of a reduplicated word is often in the neutral tone eg 哥哥(gēge)(elder brother) 妈妈(māma)(mum)爸爸( bagraveba) (dad) 妹妹(megraveimei)(younger sister)

iii Syllables such as zi that only have a bdquofill-in‟ function

(ie to make the word disyllabic) are toneless eg 杯子 (bēizi)(cup) 桌子(zhuōzi)(table) 椅子(yǐzi)(chair)

iv The second syllable in compound words is sometimes toneless and is so indicated in the text In another context it may have a full tone Some people may pronounce certain words with a tone some without as in the word bdquoeast side‟ which may also be pronounced as particularly when bdquor‟ is added

Tones are one of the biggest challenges for Chinese learners but they are indispensable for speaking and understanding Chinese Therefore it is very important to make sure that you get the tones right before you start learning Chinese So practice your tones

Exercise 11

Listen to the tongue twisters below Try to mimic the sound as closely as possible

Tongue Twister 1

A mother who is riding on a horse thinks that it is slow and so she curses it

mā ma qiacute mǎ mǎ magraven mā ma magrave

妈 妈 骑 马 马 慢 妈 妈 骂 马

Tongue Twister 2

A little girl who is herding a cow finds it stubborn and so she pinches it

niū niū gǎn niuacute niuacute nigraveng niū niū

niǔ niuacute

妞 妞 赶 牛 牛 拧 妞 妞 扭 牛

Blues

2562802

Blues

2968761

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 10

DAY 2 Rules for Tone Marks

Tone marks (调号) in Hanyu Pinyin should always be placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) not initials When there is only one vowel in a syllable the tone mark is put above the final However when there is more than one final in a row you may be uncertain about which final should take the tone mark For example if you are given 跳 (tiao) is it tigraveao tiagraveo or tiaograve

Here are a few very simple guidelines that help to find the correct final letter for the tone mark (when there is more than one)

1 If there is an bdquoɑ‟ it will always take the tone mark 2 If there is no bdquoɑ‟ bdquoo‟ or bdquoe‟ will take the tone mark (There are

no Chinese syllables in Pinyin that contain both bdquoo‟ and bdquoe‟) 3 Otherwise the second vowel takes the tone mark

The possible vowel combinations are listed below with the vowel that receives the tone marked as second tone

a e i o u uuml

a a i a o

e e i

i ia ia o ie io iu

o o u

u ua ua i ue uiacute uo

uuml uumle

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 11

Exercise 21

Put a correct tone mark on the following syllables

1 bao (抱)- 4th tone

2 guo (果)- 3rd tone

3 tie (铁) - 3rd tone

4 ke (可) - 3rd tone

5 jiao (叫) - 4th tone

6 mou (某) - 3rd tone

7 que (雀)- 4th tone

8 qiu (球)- 2nd tone

9 gui (龟) - 1st tone

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 12

Section 2

Single Finals (单韵母)

There are 6 single finals ( 单韵母 )

a o e i u uuml

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 13

DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

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Blues

33697677

o

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

33434005

e

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

32026658

null

Blues

07314283

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Blues

214204

null

Blues

19330605

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 14

Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

null

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966531

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2925717

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51983795

null

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51983795

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 15

DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

35434544

-

v

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

32264478

null

Blues

15151014

null

Blues

18546932

null

Blues

2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 16

Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

null

Blues

4571438

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6870223

null

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60865464

null

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7366552

null

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5172257

null

Blues

7105326

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 17

Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

null

Blues

44669476

null

Blues

7993493

null

Blues

5120012

null

Blues

2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 18

Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

2504897

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

26682167

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

31683254

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29174683

null

Blues

7235939

null

Blues

4623683

null

Blues

8333084

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

null

Blues

6112669

null

Blues

5877566

null

Blues

58253207

null

Blues

68963456

null

Blues

62171593

null

Blues

73143067

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 21

Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

Blues

1836198

null

Blues

18463177

null

Blues

15621141

null

Blues

841145

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

Blues

58514433

null

Blues

7941248

null

Blues

4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

27409513

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

28089514

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

30972507

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

28484616

null

Blues

63738947

null

Blues

903838

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 24

Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

null

Blues

58514433

null

Blues

60343013

null

Blues

7053081

null

Blues

60865464

null

Blues

7105326

null

Blues

61387916

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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u

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-

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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uei

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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ve

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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33499856

vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Blues

29861758

iang

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iong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

Blues

40751095

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14654625

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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3231373

uo

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2935101

uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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77845125

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Blues

34088151

uang

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Blues

31501758

van

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Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

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10109385

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12773836

null

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55379725

null

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540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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3996742

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 8: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 8

Tone Drills

Below are a few characters that have the same pinyin but with 4 different tones Try to read each character aloud and make sure you can pronounce them correctly

Sound Characters

yī yiacute yǐ yigrave

一 宜 椅 亿

wū wuacute wǔ wugrave

屋 无 五 物

yān yaacuten yǎn yagraven

烟 言 眼 燕

mā maacute mǎ magrave

妈 麻 马 骂

bā baacute bǎ bagrave

八 拔 把 爸

xuē xueacute xuě xuegrave

靴 学 雪 血

fēi feacutei fěi fegravei

飞 肥 匪 肺

dī diacute dǐ digrave

低 敌 底 弟

dā daacute dǎ dagrave

搭 答 打 大

tāng taacuteng tǎng tagraveng

汤 糖 躺 烫

yāo yaacuteo yǎo yagraveo

腰 遥 咬 要

qiāng qiaacuteng qiǎng qiagraveng

枪 强 抢 呛

Blues

3312

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36

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3312

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3384

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3888

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3816

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3312

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3384

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3744

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3456

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3744

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Neutral tones

Some syllables in Chinese are toneless or occur in the neutral tone

i Particles are always in the neutral tone eg 了 ( le )的 ( de )

ii The second half of a reduplicated word is often in the neutral tone eg 哥哥(gēge)(elder brother) 妈妈(māma)(mum)爸爸( bagraveba) (dad) 妹妹(megraveimei)(younger sister)

iii Syllables such as zi that only have a bdquofill-in‟ function

(ie to make the word disyllabic) are toneless eg 杯子 (bēizi)(cup) 桌子(zhuōzi)(table) 椅子(yǐzi)(chair)

iv The second syllable in compound words is sometimes toneless and is so indicated in the text In another context it may have a full tone Some people may pronounce certain words with a tone some without as in the word bdquoeast side‟ which may also be pronounced as particularly when bdquor‟ is added

Tones are one of the biggest challenges for Chinese learners but they are indispensable for speaking and understanding Chinese Therefore it is very important to make sure that you get the tones right before you start learning Chinese So practice your tones

Exercise 11

Listen to the tongue twisters below Try to mimic the sound as closely as possible

Tongue Twister 1

A mother who is riding on a horse thinks that it is slow and so she curses it

mā ma qiacute mǎ mǎ magraven mā ma magrave

妈 妈 骑 马 马 慢 妈 妈 骂 马

Tongue Twister 2

A little girl who is herding a cow finds it stubborn and so she pinches it

niū niū gǎn niuacute niuacute nigraveng niū niū

niǔ niuacute

妞 妞 赶 牛 牛 拧 妞 妞 扭 牛

Blues

2562802

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2968761

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 10

DAY 2 Rules for Tone Marks

Tone marks (调号) in Hanyu Pinyin should always be placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) not initials When there is only one vowel in a syllable the tone mark is put above the final However when there is more than one final in a row you may be uncertain about which final should take the tone mark For example if you are given 跳 (tiao) is it tigraveao tiagraveo or tiaograve

Here are a few very simple guidelines that help to find the correct final letter for the tone mark (when there is more than one)

1 If there is an bdquoɑ‟ it will always take the tone mark 2 If there is no bdquoɑ‟ bdquoo‟ or bdquoe‟ will take the tone mark (There are

no Chinese syllables in Pinyin that contain both bdquoo‟ and bdquoe‟) 3 Otherwise the second vowel takes the tone mark

The possible vowel combinations are listed below with the vowel that receives the tone marked as second tone

a e i o u uuml

a a i a o

e e i

i ia ia o ie io iu

o o u

u ua ua i ue uiacute uo

uuml uumle

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 11

Exercise 21

Put a correct tone mark on the following syllables

1 bao (抱)- 4th tone

2 guo (果)- 3rd tone

3 tie (铁) - 3rd tone

4 ke (可) - 3rd tone

5 jiao (叫) - 4th tone

6 mou (某) - 3rd tone

7 que (雀)- 4th tone

8 qiu (球)- 2nd tone

9 gui (龟) - 1st tone

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 12

Section 2

Single Finals (单韵母)

There are 6 single finals ( 单韵母 )

a o e i u uuml

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 13

DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

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Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

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DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

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Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

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Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

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Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

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Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

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Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

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DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

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Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

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iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

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i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

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DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 9: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 9

Neutral tones

Some syllables in Chinese are toneless or occur in the neutral tone

i Particles are always in the neutral tone eg 了 ( le )的 ( de )

ii The second half of a reduplicated word is often in the neutral tone eg 哥哥(gēge)(elder brother) 妈妈(māma)(mum)爸爸( bagraveba) (dad) 妹妹(megraveimei)(younger sister)

iii Syllables such as zi that only have a bdquofill-in‟ function

(ie to make the word disyllabic) are toneless eg 杯子 (bēizi)(cup) 桌子(zhuōzi)(table) 椅子(yǐzi)(chair)

iv The second syllable in compound words is sometimes toneless and is so indicated in the text In another context it may have a full tone Some people may pronounce certain words with a tone some without as in the word bdquoeast side‟ which may also be pronounced as particularly when bdquor‟ is added

Tones are one of the biggest challenges for Chinese learners but they are indispensable for speaking and understanding Chinese Therefore it is very important to make sure that you get the tones right before you start learning Chinese So practice your tones

Exercise 11

Listen to the tongue twisters below Try to mimic the sound as closely as possible

Tongue Twister 1

A mother who is riding on a horse thinks that it is slow and so she curses it

mā ma qiacute mǎ mǎ magraven mā ma magrave

妈 妈 骑 马 马 慢 妈 妈 骂 马

Tongue Twister 2

A little girl who is herding a cow finds it stubborn and so she pinches it

niū niū gǎn niuacute niuacute nigraveng niū niū

niǔ niuacute

妞 妞 赶 牛 牛 拧 妞 妞 扭 牛

Blues

2562802

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2968761

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 10

DAY 2 Rules for Tone Marks

Tone marks (调号) in Hanyu Pinyin should always be placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) not initials When there is only one vowel in a syllable the tone mark is put above the final However when there is more than one final in a row you may be uncertain about which final should take the tone mark For example if you are given 跳 (tiao) is it tigraveao tiagraveo or tiaograve

Here are a few very simple guidelines that help to find the correct final letter for the tone mark (when there is more than one)

1 If there is an bdquoɑ‟ it will always take the tone mark 2 If there is no bdquoɑ‟ bdquoo‟ or bdquoe‟ will take the tone mark (There are

no Chinese syllables in Pinyin that contain both bdquoo‟ and bdquoe‟) 3 Otherwise the second vowel takes the tone mark

The possible vowel combinations are listed below with the vowel that receives the tone marked as second tone

a e i o u uuml

a a i a o

e e i

i ia ia o ie io iu

o o u

u ua ua i ue uiacute uo

uuml uumle

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 11

Exercise 21

Put a correct tone mark on the following syllables

1 bao (抱)- 4th tone

2 guo (果)- 3rd tone

3 tie (铁) - 3rd tone

4 ke (可) - 3rd tone

5 jiao (叫) - 4th tone

6 mou (某) - 3rd tone

7 que (雀)- 4th tone

8 qiu (球)- 2nd tone

9 gui (龟) - 1st tone

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 12

Section 2

Single Finals (单韵母)

There are 6 single finals ( 单韵母 )

a o e i u uuml

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 13

DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

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33697677

o

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33434005

e

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Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

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DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

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Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

35434544

-

v

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Blues

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2925717

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Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 17

Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

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Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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2504897

pinyin

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26682167

pinyin

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31683254

pinyin

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Other

29174683

null

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7235939

null

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4623683

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

null

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6112669

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5877566

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 21

Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

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1836198

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18463177

null

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15621141

null

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841145

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

Blues

58514433

null

Blues

7941248

null

Blues

4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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Other

27409513

pinyin

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Other

28089514

pinyin

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Other

30972507

pinyin

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Other

28484616

null

Blues

63738947

null

Blues

903838

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 24

Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

null

Blues

58514433

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Blues

60343013

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7105326

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

null

Blues

8045738

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null

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79673705

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81502285

null

Blues

10396728

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 26

DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Other

25545301

pinyin

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29056864

pinyin

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Other

3102203

null

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6556752

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

null

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5877566

null

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4806541

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754941

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4571438

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8385328

null

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45191927

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

null

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15621141

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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34546926

pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Other

28628561

null

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89861355

null

Blues

7471042

null

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6556752

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

null

Blues

19748554

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15908484

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Other

34803798

pinyin

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329306

pinyin

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31059582

pinyin

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32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

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17893818

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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25731692

pinyin

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29200535

pinyin

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31031554

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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u

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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ei

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uei

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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ve

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 10: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 10

DAY 2 Rules for Tone Marks

Tone marks (调号) in Hanyu Pinyin should always be placed over finals (ɑ o e i u uuml) not initials When there is only one vowel in a syllable the tone mark is put above the final However when there is more than one final in a row you may be uncertain about which final should take the tone mark For example if you are given 跳 (tiao) is it tigraveao tiagraveo or tiaograve

Here are a few very simple guidelines that help to find the correct final letter for the tone mark (when there is more than one)

1 If there is an bdquoɑ‟ it will always take the tone mark 2 If there is no bdquoɑ‟ bdquoo‟ or bdquoe‟ will take the tone mark (There are

no Chinese syllables in Pinyin that contain both bdquoo‟ and bdquoe‟) 3 Otherwise the second vowel takes the tone mark

The possible vowel combinations are listed below with the vowel that receives the tone marked as second tone

a e i o u uuml

a a i a o

e e i

i ia ia o ie io iu

o o u

u ua ua i ue uiacute uo

uuml uumle

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 11

Exercise 21

Put a correct tone mark on the following syllables

1 bao (抱)- 4th tone

2 guo (果)- 3rd tone

3 tie (铁) - 3rd tone

4 ke (可) - 3rd tone

5 jiao (叫) - 4th tone

6 mou (某) - 3rd tone

7 que (雀)- 4th tone

8 qiu (球)- 2nd tone

9 gui (龟) - 1st tone

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 12

Section 2

Single Finals (单韵母)

There are 6 single finals ( 单韵母 )

a o e i u uuml

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 13

DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

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o

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33434005

e

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Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 15

DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

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u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

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-

v

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 16

Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

null

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Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

null

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2925717

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Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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Other

2504897

pinyin

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Other

26682167

pinyin

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Other

31683254

pinyin

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Other

29174683

null

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7235939

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

null

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6112669

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5877566

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 21

Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

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1836198

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18463177

null

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15621141

null

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841145

null

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551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

Blues

58514433

null

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7941248

null

Blues

4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

27409513

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

28089514

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

30972507

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

28484616

null

Blues

63738947

null

Blues

903838

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 24

Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

null

Blues

58514433

null

Blues

60343013

null

Blues

7053081

null

Blues

60865464

null

Blues

7105326

null

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61387916

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

null

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8045738

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null

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Blues

79673705

null

Blues

81502285

null

Blues

10396728

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 26

DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25545301

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

29056864

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

3102203

null

Blues

6556752

null

Blues

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

null

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5877566

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4806541

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754941

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4571438

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8385328

null

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45191927

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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u

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

3231373

uo

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

2935101

uai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

25910468

null

Blues

13061179

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14472559

null

Blues

148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

Blues

7288184

null

Blues

3578781

null

Blues

77845125

null

Blues

12564859

null

Blues

6582875

null

Blues

17554218

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

Blues

10109385

null

Blues

12773836

null

Blues

55379725

null

Blues

540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 11: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 11

Exercise 21

Put a correct tone mark on the following syllables

1 bao (抱)- 4th tone

2 guo (果)- 3rd tone

3 tie (铁) - 3rd tone

4 ke (可) - 3rd tone

5 jiao (叫) - 4th tone

6 mou (某) - 3rd tone

7 que (雀)- 4th tone

8 qiu (球)- 2nd tone

9 gui (龟) - 1st tone

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 12

Section 2

Single Finals (单韵母)

There are 6 single finals ( 单韵母 )

a o e i u uuml

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 13

DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

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33697677

o

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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33434005

e

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Blues

32026658

null

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07314283

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214204

null

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19330605

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 14

Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

null

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null

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null

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2925717

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51983795

null

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51983795

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 15

DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

35434544

-

v

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

32264478

null

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15151014

null

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null

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2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 16

Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

null

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null

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60865464

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7366552

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5172257

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7105326

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 17

Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

null

Blues

44669476

null

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7993493

null

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5120012

null

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2925717

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 18

Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

2504897

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

26682167

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

31683254

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29174683

null

Blues

7235939

null

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4623683

null

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8333084

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

null

Blues

6112669

null

Blues

5877566

null

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58253207

null

Blues

68963456

null

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62171593

null

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73143067

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 21

Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

Blues

1836198

null

Blues

18463177

null

Blues

15621141

null

Blues

841145

null

Blues

551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

Blues

58514433

null

Blues

7941248

null

Blues

4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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u

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-

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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uei

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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3195373

iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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ve

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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2945686

uen

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Blues

33499856

vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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2761414

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Blues

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ing

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Blues

31120806

ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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3100761

iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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29861758

iang

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iong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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3231373

uo

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2935101

uai

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25910468

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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34088151

uang

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Blues

31501758

van

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4440816

null

Blues

9717554

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9351845

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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3996742

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 12: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 12

Section 2

Single Finals (单韵母)

There are 6 single finals ( 单韵母 )

a o e i u uuml

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 13

DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

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33697677

o

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

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33434005

e

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 14

Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

null

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null

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null

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51983795

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 15

DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

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u

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Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

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Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

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Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

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Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

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Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

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DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

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Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

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Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

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DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

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uei

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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ve

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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Blues

2945686

uen

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Blues

33499856

vn

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33292778

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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2761414

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Blues

29612234

ing

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Blues

31120806

ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Blues

3100761

iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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null

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Blues

29861758

iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Blues

3231373

uo

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2935101

uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 13: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

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DAY 3 a o e

a

Open your mouth widely with the tongue in the lowest vertically The lips are not rounded Like bdquoa‟ in father

o

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position and round your lips The mouth is half open Like bdquooor‟ in poor

e

Contract the tongue toward the root direction and at the same time raise the tongue to the half-high position Stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides slightly The lips are not rounded The mouth is half open Like bdquoir‟ in girl

Examples 31

Word Pinyin Meaning

啊 ā

ah

哦 oacute

oh

鹅 eacute

goose

a

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Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

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DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

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u

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Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

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Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

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Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

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Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

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Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

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DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

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Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

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Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

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Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

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iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 14: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 14

Examples 32

Word Pinyin Meaning

哥哥 gēge

(elder) brother

爸爸 bagraveba

dad

婆婆 poacutepo

mother-in-law (dialect) grandmother

Exercise 31

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

forehead

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

evil

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

crocodile

1) atilde

2) ě

3) acirc

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DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

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u

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-

v

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Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

null

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Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

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Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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2504897

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

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Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

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Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

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7941248

null

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DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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27409513

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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34546926

pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Other

28628561

null

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89861355

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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34803798

pinyin

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329306

pinyin

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31059582

pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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25731692

pinyin

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pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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u

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-

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 39

Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

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Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 15: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 15

DAY 4 i u uuml

i

Place your tongue in the high position and the tongue should touch the back of the lower front teeth at the same time stretch the corners of the mouth towards two sides Like ea in beat

u

Contract your tongue toward the root and keep the tongue tip in the low position Make your mouth shape rounded Like oo in wood

uuml

Use the same tongue position as in pronouncing Chinese ldquoirdquo then draw your lips in to form a perfect circle as small as possible

Examples 41

Word Pinyin Meaning

衣 yī

clothes

乌 wū

crow

鱼 yuacute

fish

i

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u

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-

v

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Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 17

Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 18

Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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Other

2504897

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

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Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

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58514433

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7941248

null

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4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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Other

27409513

pinyin

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Other

28089514

pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Other

34546926

pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Other

28628561

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Other

34803798

pinyin

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Other

329306

pinyin

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Other

31059582

pinyin

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32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25731692

pinyin

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Other

29200535

pinyin

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LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

31031554

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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u

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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ei

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uei

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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ve

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 16: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 16

Examples 42

Word Pinyin Meaning

鸡 jī

chicken

布 bugrave

cloth

驴 lǘ

donkey

Exercise 41

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Choose One

stomach

d __

pear

l __

girl

n __

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 17

Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

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Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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Other

2504897

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

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Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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Other

27409513

pinyin

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Other

28089514

pinyin

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Other

30972507

pinyin

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Other

28484616

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Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Other

25545301

pinyin

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pinyin

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Other

3102203

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Other

34546926

pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Other

28628561

null

Blues

89861355

null

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7471042

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Other

34803798

pinyin

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Other

329306

pinyin

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Other

31059582

pinyin

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32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

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17893818

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

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iang

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 17: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 17

Notes

1 uuml is written as u (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as u it is pronounced as uuml Examples

j

jū ( 居 )

q

qugrave ( 去 )

x

xū ( 虚 )

y

yuacute ( 鱼 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final u

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Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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Other

2504897

pinyin

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Other

26682167

pinyin

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Other

31683254

pinyin

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Other

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Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

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Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

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Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

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7941248

null

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DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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Other

27409513

pinyin

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Other

28089514

pinyin

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Other

30972507

pinyin

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Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Other

25545301

pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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Other

3102203

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Other

34546926

pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Other

28628561

null

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89861355

null

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7471042

null

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6556752

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

34803798

pinyin

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Other

329306

pinyin

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Other

31059582

pinyin

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32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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uei

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 18: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 18

Section 3

Initials (声母)

There are 21 initials ( 声母 ) (excluding y and w )

b p m f

d t n l

g k h

j q x

zh ch sh r

z c s

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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Other

2504897

pinyin

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pinyin

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Other

31683254

pinyin

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Other

29174683

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7235939

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 21

Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

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551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

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58514433

null

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7941248

null

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4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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Other

27409513

pinyin

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Other

28089514

pinyin

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Other

30972507

pinyin

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28484616

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 24

Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

null

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10396728

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 26

DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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Other

29056864

pinyin

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Other

3102203

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

null

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26122463

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Other

34546926

pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Other

28628561

null

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89861355

null

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7471042

null

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6556752

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

34803798

pinyin

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Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 19: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 19

DAY 5 b p m f

b

Completely close both lips and then release the compressed air in the mouth suddenly keep the shape of your lips as in pronouncing o Like b in bore but voiceless

p

Begin as pronouncing b But when pronouncing p release the compressed air in the mouth to make an aspirated sound Like p in put but is invariably produced with a strong puff of air

m

It is pronounced by keeping the lips tightly closed and the soft palate drops to let the air out through the nose Like m in money

f

The upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly and let the air escape between them Like f in five

Examples 51 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

笔 bǐ

pen

八 bā

eight

破 pograve

break

pinyin

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Other

2504897

pinyin

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Other

26682167

pinyin

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Other

31683254

pinyin

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Other

29174683

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 21

Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

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58514433

null

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7941248

null

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4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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Other

27409513

pinyin

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Other

28089514

pinyin

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Other

30972507

pinyin

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28484616

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 24

Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

null

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Other

25545301

pinyin

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29056864

pinyin

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3102203

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Other

34546926

pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Other

28628561

null

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89861355

null

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7471042

null

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6556752

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 20: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 20

Examples 52 ( b p )

Word Pinyin Meaning

扒 paacute

steal

拔 baacute

pull up

鼻 biacute

nose

Examples 53 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

米 mǐ

rice

斧 fǔ

axe

骂 magrave

scold

null

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Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

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null

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null

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null

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551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

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58514433

null

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7941248

null

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4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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27409513

pinyin

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Other

28089514

pinyin

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Other

30972507

pinyin

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28484616

null

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Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

null

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60343013

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

null

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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Other

3102203

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

null

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Other

34546926

pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

28628561

null

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89861355

null

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7471042

null

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6556752

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

null

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15908484

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7601655

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

34803798

pinyin

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LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

329306

pinyin

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Other

31059582

pinyin

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Other

32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

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17893818

null

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16979511

null

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null

Blues

12042418

null

Blues

1635256

null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

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iang

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 21: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 21

Examples 54 ( m f )

Word Pinyin Meaning

父母 fugravemǔ

parents

木马 mugravemǎ

rocking horse

夫妇 fūfugrave

husband and wife

Exercise 51

For each Chinese character select the correct answer from the box below

f agrave foacute paacute mugrave pō

Word Meaning Answer

hair

Buddha

null

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841145

null

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551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

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58514433

null

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7941248

null

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4806541

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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Other

27409513

pinyin

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Other

28089514

pinyin

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Other

30972507

pinyin

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Other

28484616

null

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63738947

null

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903838

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551185

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 24

Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

null

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10396728

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 26

DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Other

25545301

pinyin

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Other

29056864

pinyin

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Other

3102203

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Other

34546926

pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Other

28628561

null

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89861355

null

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7471042

null

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6556752

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

34803798

pinyin

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Other

329306

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

31059582

pinyin

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Other

32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

Blues

17893818

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16979511

null

Blues

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Blues

12042418

null

Blues

1635256

null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

null

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75755324

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4858786

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Blues

428409

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25731692

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29200535

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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uei

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 22: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 22

Word Meaning Answer

climb

wood

slope

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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27409513

pinyin

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Other

28089514

pinyin

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Other

30972507

pinyin

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Other

28484616

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63738947

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 24

Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Other

34803798

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25731692

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29200535

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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31031554

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

Blues

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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uei

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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ve

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 23: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 23

DAY 6 d t n l

d

Put the tongue tips against the upper teeth ridge to block the air and then put it down to release the air suddenly Like d in door but voiceless

t

It is pronounced in the same position for d but explodes with a strong puff of air It is an aspirated equivalent of d Like t in team

n

When producing this sound the tip of the tongue presses against the upper gum to completely block the air stream from the oral cavity and let the air out through the nose Like n in need

l

When producing this sound the tongue tip is a little behind the position for n to allow the air to run out from both sides of the tongue Like l in look

Examples 61 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

读 duacute

read

兔 tugrave

rabbit

梯 tī

ladder

pinyin

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Other

27409513

pinyin

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Other

28089514

pinyin

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Other

30972507

pinyin

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Other

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 24

Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 26

DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Other

25545301

pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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Other

3102203

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Other

34546926

pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Other

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Other

34803798

pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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pinyin

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32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25731692

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29200535

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

31031554

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

Blues

71210175

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

35434544

-

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 39

Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

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Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 24: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 24

Examples 62 ( d t )

Word Pinyin Meaning

啼 tiacute

cocks crow

毒 duacute

poison

塔 tǎ

pagoda

Examples 63 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

驴 lǘ

donkey

女 nǚ

women

梨 liacute

pear

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25731692

pinyin

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Other

29200535

pinyin

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Other

31031554

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

35434544

-

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 39

Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31930058

ei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

3023128

uei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

3013931

null

Blues

17528095

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 43

DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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30019312

ou

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3195373

iu

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29532235

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

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DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

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DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

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Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

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iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

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i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

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DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 25: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 25

Examples 64 ( n l )

Word Pinyin Meaning

鹿 lugrave

deer

拉 lā

pull

六 liugrave

six

Exercise 61

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

road

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

spit

1) tugrave

2) dugrave

angry

1) lugrave

2) nugrave

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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3102203

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Other

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Other

34803798

pinyin

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pinyin

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31059582

pinyin

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Other

32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25731692

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29200535

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

31031554

null

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13792597

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

35434544

-

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 39

Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31930058

ei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

3023128

uei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

3013931

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17528095

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 43

DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

30019312

ou

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

3195373

iu

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

29532235

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Blues

14602381

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14915846

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

null

Blues

1886037

2010

Blues

17710957

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 13

Blues

31817405

ve

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

31146657

null

Blues

14863602

null

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13949329

null

Blues

17005634

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 48

DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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2945686

uen

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33499856

vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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2761414

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29612234

ing

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31120806

ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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3100761

iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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29861758

iang

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iong

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14393404

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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3231373

uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 26: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

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DAY 7 g k h

g

Raise the root of the tongue and let it touch the soft palate so that the air stream is stopped lower your tongue quickly and let the air out Like g in girl but voiceless

k

The tongue position of producing this sound is the same as g but explodes with a strong puff of air Like k in kick

h

It is pronounced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate to make a narrow passage for the air to be expelled with friction Like h in heart

Examples 71

Word Pinyin Meaning

鼓 gǔ

drum

咳 keacute

cough

虎 hǔ

tiger

pinyin

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Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

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DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 27: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 27

Examples 72

Word Pinyin Meaning

河 heacute

river

哭 kū

cry

骨 gǔ

bone

Exercise 71

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

pigeon

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

card

1) gǎ

2) kǎ

3) hǎ

drink

1) gē

2) kē

3) hē

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

34546926

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

3000516

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

28628561

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

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Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

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Blues

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Blues

12773836

null

Blues

55379725

null

Blues

540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 28: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 28

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

兔子 (tugrave zi) rabbit

裤子 (kugrave zi) pants

肚子 (dugrave zi) stomach belly

小兔子做裤子

量了裤子量肚子

做好裤子提不上肚子

小兔子看裤子

不知是没量准裤子

还是没量准肚子

Meaning A little rabbit was making pants He measured out the fabric for the pants and measured his waist made the pants but cant pull it up The little rabbit looked at the pants and doesnt know if he measured the pants wrong or measured his waist wrong

小兔子做裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi zuograve kugrave zi

量了裤子量肚子

liagraveng le kugrave zi liagraveng dugrave zi

做好裤子提不上肚子

zuograve hǎo kugrave zi tiacute buacute shagraveng dugrave zi

小兔子看裤子

xiǎo tugrave zi kagraven kugrave zi

不知是没量准裤子

buacute zhī shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn kugrave zi

还是没量准肚子

haacutei shigrave meacutei liagraveng zhǔn dugrave zi

null

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22987757

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2690614

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26122463

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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Other

34546926

pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Other

28628561

null

Blues

89861355

null

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7471042

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6556752

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

null

Blues

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7601655

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Other

34803798

pinyin

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Other

329306

pinyin

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Other

31059582

pinyin

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Other

32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25731692

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

29200535

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

31031554

null

Blues

13792597

null

Blues

16143583

null

Blues

14941968

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

null

Blues

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17449726

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1773708

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

Blues

71210175

Blues

2404435

Blues

16991016

Blues

1474122

Blues

22081356

Blues

24497952

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

35434544

-

null

Blues

8019616

null

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9743676

null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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ei

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uei

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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3195373

iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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ve

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 29: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 29

DAY 8 j q x

j

Raise the front part of the tongue to touch the hard palate then let the tip of your tongue touch the back of the lower teeth and produce this sound by letting the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the palate Like j in jeep

q

The manner and place of articulation are the same as in pronouncing the j however q is an aspirated sound Like cheek with the lips spread wide with ee

x

The place of articulation is the same as in producing j and q However for j and q the air stream initially is blocked and then forced out while for ldquoxrdquo the air stream is not blocked

during the whole pronouncing process Like she with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee

Examples 81

Word Pinyin Meaning

锯 jugrave

saw

旗 qiacute

flag

席 xiacute

mat

pinyin

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34546926

pinyin

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Other

3000516

pinyin

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Other

28628561

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 30

Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Other

32363257

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Other

25731692

pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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Other

31031554

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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33925974

u

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

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35434544

-

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

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31930058

ei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

3023128

uei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

3013931

null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 43

DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

30019312

ou

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

3195373

iu

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

29532235

null

Blues

14602381

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Blues

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null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

null

Blues

1886037

2010

Blues

17710957

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Blues

19591816

null

Blues

15281554

null

Blues

21054707

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 13

Blues

31817405

ve

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

31146657

null

Blues

14863602

null

Blues

13949329

null

Blues

17005634

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 48

DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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2945686

uen

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33499856

vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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2761414

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29612234

ing

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31120806

ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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3100761

iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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29861758

iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 30: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

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Examples 82

Word Pinyin Meaning

举起 jǔqǐ

lift up

胡须 huacutexū

beard

母鸡 mǔjī

hen

Exercise 81

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

megraveimei ____ mugravemǎ

māma ____ digrave

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DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

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Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

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Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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u

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

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Blues

31501758

van

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 31: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 31

DAY 9 zh ch sh r

zh

Turn up the tongue tip against the front part of the hard palate to block the air and then release the air through the narrow air passage between the tongue tip and the hard palate Like dge in judge

ch

The place of articulation is very similar to zh but the air should be forced out through the narrow passage It is an aspirated equivalent of zh Like ch in teach

sh

It is pronounced by turning up the tongue tip close to the hard palate to make a narrow passage through which the air escapes with friction Like sh in English

r

The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly Finally let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords Like r in round

pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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pinyin

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

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Other

25731692

pinyin

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Other

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pinyin

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Other

31031554

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

35434544

-

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 39

Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

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Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 32: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 32

Examples 91

Word Pinyin Meaning

竹树 zhuacute shugrave

bamboo

热茶 regravechaacute

hot tea

书橱 shūchuacute

bookcase

Examples 92

Word Pinyin Meaning

蜘蛛 zhīzhū

spider

日出 rigravechū

sunrise

石狮 shiacuteshī

stone carving lion

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25731692

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29200535

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

31031554

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

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-

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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ei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

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3023128

uei

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 43

DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

30019312

ou

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

3195373

iu

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

29532235

null

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14602381

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null

Blues

14915846

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

null

Blues

1886037

2010

Blues

17710957

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Blues

19591816

null

Blues

15281554

null

Blues

21054707

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 13

Blues

31817405

ve

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

31146657

null

Blues

14863602

null

Blues

13949329

null

Blues

17005634

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 48

DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

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null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

24528973

en

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 12

Blues

35761619

null

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11702831

null

Blues

11284878

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

null

Blues

14315038

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null

Blues

1731911

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

2945686

uen

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

33499856

vn

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 12

Blues

33292778

null

Blues

134268875

null

Blues

11781198

null

Blues

106579485

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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29861758

iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 33: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 33

Exercise 91

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Answer

paper

1) zhǐ

2) chǐ

3) shǐ

4) rǐ

car

1) zhē

2) chē

3) shē

4) rē

sand

1) zhā

2) chā

3) shā

Notes

1 These 4 sounds are retroflexed so make sure you feel your tongue curled when you read them

2 For r please be noted that in English when you pronounce something like rain your tongue is hung in your mouth without touching anywhere inside But to pronounce the Pinyin r you just make the front surface of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth as well as the curling advice

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DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

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pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Other

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pinyin

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Other

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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u

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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ei

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uei

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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3195373

iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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ve

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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21587477

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23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 34: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 34

DAY 10 z c s

z

It is pronounced by putting forward the tongue to block the air with its tip against the teethridge and then drop the tip to release the air with friction through the narrow passage Like ds in clouds

c

The manner of articulation is very similar to z but c is aspirated Like ts in cats

s

It is produced by putting forward the tongue tip to a position close to the lower gum to make a narrow passage between the tongue and the teethridge for the air to run out with friction Like s in sound

Examples 101

Word Pinyin Meaning

擦洗 cāxǐ

clean scrub

足迹 zuacutejigrave

footprint

菩萨 puacutesagrave

bodhisattva

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

25731692

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

29200535

pinyin

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Other

31031554

null

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13792597

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16143583

null

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14941968

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

null

Blues

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11467732

null

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17449726

null

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1773708

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

35434544

-

null

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 39

Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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ei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

3023128

uei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

3013931

null

Blues

17528095

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null

Blues

198008

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 43

DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

30019312

ou

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

3195373

iu

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

29532235

null

Blues

14602381

null

Blues

17188496

null

Blues

14915846

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

null

Blues

1886037

2010

Blues

17710957

null

Blues

19591816

null

Blues

15281554

null

Blues

21054707

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 13

Blues

31817405

ve

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

31146657

null

Blues

14863602

null

Blues

13949329

null

Blues

17005634

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

null

Blues

16430927

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Blues

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Blues

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null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

null

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Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 48

DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

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null

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null

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null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

null

Blues

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null

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Blues

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null

Blues

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null

Blues

14941968

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

24528973

en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

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iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

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i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 35: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 35

Examples 102

Word Pinyin Meaning

司机 sījī

driver

瓷器 ciacuteqigrave

porcelain

字母 zigravemǔ

letter

Exercise 101

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

撕破

tā bǎ shū ______ le

狮子

______ de tǐ geacute cū dagrave

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Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

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DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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u

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Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

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DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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uei

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

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Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

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24635093

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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17762989

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19575232

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20944755

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1432952

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15103669

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1550367

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20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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22147477

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24764345

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25362167

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2455972

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26122167

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21587477

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23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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10274827

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06596462

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1060408

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060669386

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078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 36: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 36

Extra Activity Tongue Twisters 绕口令( ragraveo kǒu ligraveng )

Listen and practice each phrase slowly then practice them quickly

Here are the 3 words that you need to pay attention to

四 (sigrave) four

十 (shigrave) ten

是 (shigrave) is

四是四十是十

四不是十

十不是四

四乘十是四十

四加十是十四

Meaning Four is four ten is ten Four is not ten ten is not four Four times ten is forty Four plus ten is fourteen

四是四十是十

sigrave shigrave sigrave shiacute shigrave shiacute

四不是十

sigrave buacute shigrave shiacute

十不是四

shiacute buacute shigrave sigrave

四乘十是四十

sigrave cheacuteng shiacute shigrave sigrave shiacute

四加十是十四

sigrave jiā shiacute shigrave shiacute sigrave

Blues

71210175

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2404435

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16991016

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22081356

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24497952

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

35434544

-

null

Blues

8019616

null

Blues

9743676

null

Blues

128783245

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

null

Blues

1645705

null

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11728953

null

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9560822

null

Blues

13583004

null

Blues

14915846

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 39

Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31930058

ei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

3023128

uei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

3013931

null

Blues

17528095

null

Blues

1496809

null

Blues

198008

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

null

Blues

50155215

null

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74449196

null

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4806541

null

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19905293

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16065216

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 43

DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

30019312

ou

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

3195373

iu

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

29532235

null

Blues

14602381

null

Blues

17188496

null

Blues

14915846

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

null

Blues

1886037

2010

Blues

17710957

null

Blues

19591816

null

Blues

15281554

null

Blues

21054707

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 13

Blues

31817405

ve

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

31146657

null

Blues

14863602

null

Blues

13949329

null

Blues

17005634

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

null

Blues

16430927

null

Blues

16692158

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15072578

null

Blues

14053818

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

null

Blues

7288184

null

Blues

9430211

null

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775839

null

Blues

51983795

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 48

DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Blues

32426927

null

Blues

11258756

null

Blues

13766475

null

Blues

16666035

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

null

Blues

13969183

null

Blues

15751752

null

Blues

13296277

null

Blues

10788559

null

Blues

10684071

null

Blues

14941968

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

24528973

en

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 12

Blues

35761619

null

Blues

12669348

null

Blues

11702831

null

Blues

11284878

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

null

Blues

14315038

null

Blues

13270155

null

Blues

1687502

null

Blues

13505254

null

Blues

1731911

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 37: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 37

DAY 11 y w

y

Like y in yesterday but it can be produced with slight friction

w

Like w in wood but it can be produced with slight friction

Examples 111

Word Pinyin Meaning

乌鸦 wūyā

crow

牙医 yaacuteyī

dentist

蚁窝 yǐ wō

ants nest

i

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

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33925974

u

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

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35434544

-

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

null

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Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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ou

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iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 38: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 38

Examples 112

Word Pinyin Meaning

野鸭 yěyā

Mallard duck

屋瓦 wū wǎ

roof tiles

雨衣 yǔyī

raincoat

Exercise 111

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

椰子

____ zi

娃娃

____ ____

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 39

Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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31930058

ei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

3023128

uei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

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null

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198008

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 43

DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

30019312

ou

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

3195373

iu

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

29532235

null

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14602381

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null

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14915846

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

null

Blues

1886037

2010

Blues

17710957

null

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19591816

null

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15281554

null

Blues

21054707

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Blues

31817405

ve

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

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31146657

null

Blues

14863602

null

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13949329

null

Blues

17005634

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

null

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null

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

24528973

en

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 12

Blues

35761619

null

Blues

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null

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null

Blues

11284878

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

null

Blues

14315038

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null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

2945686

uen

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

33499856

vn

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 12

Blues

33292778

null

Blues

134268875

null

Blues

11781198

null

Blues

106579485

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

null

Blues

7601655

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50677667

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13531376

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Blues

128783245

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

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36832712

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52506247

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Blues

25861237

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

2761414

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

29612234

ing

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31120806

ong

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

31309104

null

Blues

10605704

null

Blues

14053818

null

Blues

12956691

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

Blues

8254718

null

Blues

11180435

null

Blues

52506247

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Blues

10318361

null

Blues

8855525

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

3100761

iao

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

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26564617

null

Blues

36832712

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37355163

null

Blues

34481683

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

null

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78367577

null

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7471042

null

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6582875

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1645705

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

29861758

iang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

25926795

iong

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

2945931

null

Blues

13348521

null

Blues

17031757

null

Blues

14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

Blues

40751095

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Blues

7418797

null

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null

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14654625

null

Blues

17841572

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

3231373

uo

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

2935101

uai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

25910468

null

Blues

13061179

null

Blues

14472559

null

Blues

148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

Blues

7288184

null

Blues

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null

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77845125

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12564859

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

Blues

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Blues

12773836

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

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Blues

55902176

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Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 39: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 39

Notes

1 y and w are special sign in Hanyu Pinyin When acting as initials they retain their sounds or are silent in the cases of ldquoyirdquo

and ldquowurdquo When they act as the first part of a final w is represented as u and y is represented as i or uuml

2 When there is no initial before finals starting with i y shall be added as initial i If there is another vowel after i i should be changed to y

Example

with vowel(s) after i

Final -ie -iou -ian -ia -iang -iao -iong

Syllable ye you yan ya yang yao yong

Word 叶 有 眼 牙 羊 要 永

ii If there is no other vowel after i add y before i Example

without vowel after i

Final -i -in -ing

Syllable yi yin ying

Word 一 因 应

3 When there is no initial before finals starting with u w shall be

added as initial i If there is another vowel after u change u to w

with vowel(s) after u

Final -ua -uo -uai -uei -uan -uen -uang -ueng

Syllable wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng

Word 娃 我 外 未 玩 文 网 翁

ii If there is no other vowel after u add w before u

without vowel after u

Final -u

Syllable wu

Word 屋

4 In uuml column of finals when the syllable is in zero initial

whether there is another vowel after the u or not add y before uuml and the two dots on the uuml must be omitted

uuml

Final -uuml -uumle -uumlan -uumln Syllable yu yue yuan yun

Word 鱼 月 圆 云

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31930058

ei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

3023128

uei

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

3013931

null

Blues

17528095

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Blues

1496809

null

Blues

198008

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

null

Blues

50155215

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74449196

null

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19905293

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16065216

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 43

DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

30019312

ou

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

3195373

iu

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

29532235

null

Blues

14602381

null

Blues

17188496

null

Blues

14915846

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

null

Blues

1886037

2010

Blues

17710957

null

Blues

19591816

null

Blues

15281554

null

Blues

21054707

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 13

Blues

31817405

ve

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

31146657

null

Blues

14863602

null

Blues

13949329

null

Blues

17005634

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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2945686

uen

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vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

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DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

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24764345

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25362167

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2455972

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26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 40: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 40

Section 4

Compound amp Nasal Finals

(复韵母 amp 鼻韵母)

Compound finals ( 复韵母 ) ai ei ui

ao ou iu

ie uumle

er

ia iao

ua uo uai

Nasal finals ( 鼻韵母 ) an en

in un uumln

ang eng ing ong

ian iang iong

uan uang

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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Blues

31930058

ei

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Blues

3023128

uei

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null

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null

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198008

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

null

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50155215

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19905293

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 43

DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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Blues

30019312

ou

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Blues

3195373

iu

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Blues

29532235

null

Blues

14602381

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17188496

null

Blues

14915846

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

null

Blues

1886037

2010

Blues

17710957

null

Blues

19591816

null

Blues

15281554

null

Blues

21054707

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Blues

31817405

ve

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

31146657

null

Blues

14863602

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13949329

null

Blues

17005634

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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24528973

en

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null

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11702831

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11284878

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

null

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14315038

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13270155

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1687502

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13505254

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Blues

1731911

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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Blues

2945686

uen

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Blues

33499856

vn

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Blues

33292778

null

Blues

134268875

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11781198

null

Blues

106579485

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

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36832712

null

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58253207

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52506247

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Blues

25861237

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Blues

2761414

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Blues

29612234

ing

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Blues

31120806

ong

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Blues

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null

Blues

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null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

Blues

8254718

null

Blues

11180435

null

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52506247

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10318361

null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Blues

3100761

iao

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

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null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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29861758

iang

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iong

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Blues

3231373

uo

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Blues

2935101

uai

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25910468

null

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13061179

null

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null

Blues

148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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7288184

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 41: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 41

DAY 12 ai ei ui

ai

Like eye or vowel sound in fly

ei

Like the long bdquoa‟ in English vowel as

in pay and eight

ui

Like ay in way

Examples 121

Word Pinyin Meaning

排队 paacuteiduigrave

queue up

开水 kāishuǐ

boiling water

盖被 gagravei begravei

cover oneself with quilt

ai

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ei

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uei

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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30019312

ou

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3195373

iu

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

null

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2010

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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ve

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

null

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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Blues

2945686

uen

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Blues

33499856

vn

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null

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null

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106579485

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

2761414

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ing

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Blues

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ong

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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29861758

iang

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iong

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14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

3231373

uo

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

2935101

uai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

25910468

null

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14472559

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148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

Blues

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77845125

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

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Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 42: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 42

Examples 122

Word Pinyin Meaning

龟 guī

tortoise

海 hǎi

sea

飞 fēi

fly

Exercise 121

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

买菜

māma qugrave shigravechǎng

______

开会

bagraveba zagravei ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 43

DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

30019312

ou

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

3195373

iu

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

29532235

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

null

Blues

1886037

2010

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17710957

null

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19591816

null

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15281554

null

Blues

21054707

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 13

Blues

31817405

ve

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

31146657

null

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14863602

null

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null

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17005634

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 48

DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

null

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10788559

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10684071

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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en

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 12

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 43: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 43

DAY 13 ao ou iu

ao

Like ow in cow

ou

Like oa in boat

iu

Like yo in yo-yo

Examples 131

Word Pinyin Meaning

摇头 yaacuteotoacuteu

shake ones head

牛肉 niuacuterograveu

beef

早操 zǎocāo

morning exercises

ao

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iu

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Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

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2010

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DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

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Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

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Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

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DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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uen

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vn

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Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

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Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

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iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

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i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

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DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 44: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 44

Examples 132

Word Pinyin Meaning

右手 yograveushǒu

the right hand

逃走 taacuteozǒu

run away

吵闹 chǎonagraveo

din hubbub

Exercise 131

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

收到

tā ______ hěn duō lǐwugrave

一头牛

yǒu ______ zagravei chī cǎo

null

Blues

1886037

2010

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17710957

null

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19591816

null

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15281554

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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Blues

31817405

ve

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Blues

31146657

null

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14863602

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null

Blues

17005634

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

24528973

en

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null

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11702831

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11284878

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

null

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Blues

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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Blues

2945686

uen

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Blues

33499856

vn

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33292778

null

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11781198

null

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106579485

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

2761414

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Blues

29612234

ing

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31120806

ong

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

31309104

null

Blues

10605704

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14053818

null

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12956691

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Blues

3100761

iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Blues

29861758

iang

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iong

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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14654625

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17841572

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Blues

3231373

uo

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Blues

2935101

uai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

25910468

null

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13061179

null

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null

Blues

148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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17554218

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

4440816

null

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9717554

null

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9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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3996742

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24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 45: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 45

DAY 14 ie uumle

ie

Like ye in yellow or yes

uumle

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 141

Word Pinyin Meaning

白雪 baacuteixuě

white snow

蝴蝶 huacutedieacute

butterfly

月夜 yuegraveyegrave

moonlight night

ie

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31817405

ve

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null

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null

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null

Blues

17005634

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

null

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51983795

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 48

DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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LearnChineseEverydaycom

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en

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11284878

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

null

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13505254

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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Blues

2945686

uen

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Blues

33499856

vn

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null

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11781198

null

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106579485

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Blues

2761414

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Blues

29612234

ing

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Blues

31120806

ong

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

31309104

null

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10605704

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14053818

null

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12956691

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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3100761

iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Blues

29861758

iang

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Blues

25926795

iong

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Blues

2945931

null

Blues

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null

Blues

14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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null

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14654625

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Blues

17841572

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Blues

3231373

uo

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Blues

2935101

uai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

25910468

null

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13061179

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null

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148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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34088151

uang

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Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

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4440816

null

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9717554

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13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

Blues

10109385

null

Blues

12773836

null

Blues

55379725

null

Blues

540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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17762989

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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22147477

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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10274827

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 46: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 46

Examples 142

Word Pinyin Meaning

麻雀 maacutequegrave

sparrow

打猎 dǎliegrave

hunt

街道 jiēdagraveo

street

Exercise 141

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

雪糕

Digravedi agravei chī ______

跌倒

Tā ______ zagraveidigrave

null

Blues

16430927

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15072578

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14053818

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13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

null

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7288184

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 48

DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

Blues

32426927

null

Blues

11258756

null

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13766475

null

Blues

16666035

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

null

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13969183

null

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15751752

null

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13296277

null

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10788559

null

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10684071

null

Blues

14941968

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

24528973

en

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 12

Blues

35761619

null

Blues

12669348

null

Blues

11702831

null

Blues

11284878

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

null

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14315038

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1687502

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13505254

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Blues

1731911

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

2945686

uen

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

33499856

vn

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 12

Blues

33292778

null

Blues

134268875

null

Blues

11781198

null

Blues

106579485

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

null

Blues

7601655

null

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5564095

null

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50677667

null

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13531376

null

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128783245

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

Blues

36832712

null

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58253207

null

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52506247

null

Blues

25861237

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

2761414

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

29612234

ing

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31120806

ong

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

31309104

null

Blues

10605704

null

Blues

14053818

null

Blues

12956691

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

Blues

8254718

null

Blues

11180435

null

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52506247

null

Blues

10318361

null

Blues

8855525

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

3100761

iao

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

26564617

null

Blues

36832712

null

Blues

37355163

null

Blues

34481683

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

29861758

iang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

25926795

iong

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

2945931

null

Blues

13348521

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17031757

null

Blues

14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

Blues

40751095

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

3231373

uo

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

2935101

uai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

25910468

null

Blues

13061179

null

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14472559

null

Blues

148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

Blues

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Blues

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77845125

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

Blues

10109385

null

Blues

12773836

null

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null

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540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

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Blues

55902176

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Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 47: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 47

Notes

1 uumle is written as ue (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Examples

j

jueacute ( 绝 )

q

quegrave ( 雀 )

x

xuě ( 雪 )

y

yuegrave ( 月 )

2 There is no final ue in Pinyin system

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51983795

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 48

DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 10

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16666035

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

null

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null

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15751752

null

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13296277

null

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10788559

null

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10684071

null

Blues

14941968

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

24528973

en

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 12

Blues

35761619

null

Blues

12669348

null

Blues

11702831

null

Blues

11284878

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

null

Blues

14315038

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13270155

null

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null

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13505254

null

Blues

1731911

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

2945686

uen

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

33499856

vn

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 12

Blues

33292778

null

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null

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11781198

null

Blues

106579485

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

null

Blues

7601655

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null

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null

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13531376

null

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128783245

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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ing

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ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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29861758

iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 48: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 48

DAY 15 er

er

Put your tongue and lip in position as when pronouncing Chinese ldquoerdquo then raise the middle part of your tongue slightly and at the same time roll up the tip of your tongue backward Like er in butter in American English pronunciation

Examples 151

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳机 ěrjī

ear phone

兔儿 tugrave eacuter

rabbit

第二 digraveegraver

number 2

er

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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2945686

uen

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33499856

vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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2761414

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29612234

ing

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31120806

ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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3100761

iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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3231373

uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

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难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 49: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 49

Examples 152

Word Pinyin Meaning

耳朵 ěrduo

ear

刺耳 cigraveěr

ear-piercing

女儿 nǚeacuter

daughter

Exercise 151

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

二胡

erhu

1) atilderhuacute

2) ěrhuacute

3) acircrhuacute

鱼饵

bait

1) yuacuteatilder

2) yuacuteěr

3) yuacuteacircr

驴儿

donkey

1) lǘ atilder

2) lǘ ěr

3) lǘ acircr

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Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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2945686

uen

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33499856

vn

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

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DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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2761414

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ing

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ong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

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i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

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DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

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24764345

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2455972

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 50: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 50

Notes

1 The final er is different from initial r

2 The final er cannot follow any initial but it can be a syllable by itself eg eacuter ( 儿 son ) and ěr ( 耳 ear ) 3 The final er can be combined with another final in the preceding syllable to form a retroflex ending A retroflex final is indicated by the letter r at the end of a syllable The Chinese character for retroflex final is 儿 (eacuter) 4 儿 (eacuter) can be added to a noun to give the meaning ldquolovely

small or friendlyrdquo or it can totally change the meaning of the noun eg 鸟儿 (niǎor) - a small bird 花儿 (huār)- lovely flowers 头儿 (toacuteur)- leader (头 means head When 儿 is added to 头 it totally changes the meaning of the word)

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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en

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null

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12669348

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11702831

null

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11284878

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

null

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13270155

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1687502

null

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13505254

null

Blues

1731911

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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Blues

2945686

uen

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Blues

33499856

vn

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Blues

33292778

null

Blues

134268875

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11781198

null

Blues

106579485

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

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null

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Blues

2761414

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Blues

29612234

ing

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Blues

31120806

ong

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Blues

31309104

null

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10605704

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null

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12956691

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

Blues

8254718

null

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11180435

null

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52506247

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10318361

null

Blues

8855525

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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3100761

iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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2945931

null

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null

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14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

Blues

40751095

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7418797

null

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52506247

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14654625

null

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17841572

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Blues

3231373

uo

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Blues

2935101

uai

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Blues

25910468

null

Blues

13061179

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14472559

null

Blues

148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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3578781

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Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Blues

34088151

uang

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Blues

31501758

van

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Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

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9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

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12773836

null

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55379725

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

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55902176

null

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54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 51: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 51

DAY 16 an en

an

The bdquoa‟ sound with an bdquon‟

en

The bdquoe‟ sound with an bdquon‟

Examples 161

Word Pinyin Meaning

海滩 hǎitān

beach

看门 kānmeacuten

guard the entrancedoor

斑纹 bānweacuten

stripe

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Blues

24528973

en

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Blues

35761619

null

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12669348

null

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11702831

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Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

null

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1687502

null

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13505254

null

Blues

1731911

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DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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Blues

2945686

uen

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Blues

33499856

vn

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Blues

33292778

null

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134268875

null

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11781198

null

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106579485

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

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null

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58253207

null

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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Blues

2761414

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Blues

29612234

ing

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Blues

31120806

ong

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

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null

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DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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3100761

iao

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null

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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29861758

iang

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iong

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null

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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3231373

uo

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2935101

uai

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25910468

null

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null

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14472559

null

Blues

148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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17554218

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Blues

34088151

uang

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Blues

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van

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Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

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9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

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11102023

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

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55902176

null

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54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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10274827

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 52: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 52

Examples 162

Word Pinyin Meaning

树根 shugraveɡēn

the root of a tree

起身 qǐshēn

set out

车站 chēzhagraven

bus stop

Exercise 161

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

满身

Tā regrave de ______ shigrave hagraven

难看

Tā zhēn de hěn ______

null

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null

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13270155

null

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1687502

null

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13505254

null

Blues

1731911

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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Blues

2945686

uen

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Blues

33499856

vn

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Blues

33292778

null

Blues

134268875

null

Blues

11781198

null

Blues

106579485

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

null

Blues

7601655

null

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5564095

null

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50677667

null

Blues

13531376

null

Blues

128783245

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

Blues

36832712

null

Blues

58253207

null

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52506247

null

Blues

25861237

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

2761414

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Blues

29612234

ing

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31120806

ong

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

31309104

null

Blues

10605704

null

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14053818

null

Blues

12956691

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

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8254718

null

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11180435

null

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52506247

null

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10318361

null

Blues

8855525

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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Blues

3100761

iao

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

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26564617

null

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36832712

null

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null

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34481683

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

null

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null

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null

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null

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null

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null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Blues

29861758

iang

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Blues

25926795

iong

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Blues

2945931

null

Blues

13348521

null

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null

Blues

14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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40751095

null

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7418797

null

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52506247

null

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14654625

null

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17841572

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Blues

3231373

uo

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Blues

2935101

uai

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Blues

25910468

null

Blues

13061179

null

Blues

14472559

null

Blues

148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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3578781

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Blues

17554218

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

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12773836

null

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55379725

null

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540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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26122167

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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06596462

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1060408

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 53: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 53

DAY 17 in un uumln

in

Like bdquoin‟ in bin

un

Like bdquooon‟ in spoon but said faster

uumln

Nothing really close in English Listen and repeat

Examples 171

Word Pinyin Meaning

手巾 shǒujīn

handkerchief

结婚 jieacutehūn

get married

白云 baacutei yuacuten

white clouds

in

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Blues

2945686

uen

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Blues

33499856

vn

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null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

Blues

36832712

null

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58253207

null

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52506247

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

2761414

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Blues

29612234

ing

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31120806

ong

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

31309104

null

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10605704

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

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null

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null

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52506247

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10318361

null

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8855525

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

3100761

iao

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

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null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

null

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Blues

29861758

iang

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iong

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null

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null

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14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

Blues

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7418797

null

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Blues

3231373

uo

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Blues

2935101

uai

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25910468

null

Blues

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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Blues

34088151

uang

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Blues

31501758

van

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Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

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12773836

null

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55379725

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

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54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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20944755

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1432952

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 54: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 54

Examples 172

Word Pinyin Meaning

棍 gugraven

stick

裙 quacuten

skirt

轮 luacuten

wheel

Exercise 171

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

军训

Gēgē zagravei shograveu ______

提琴

Tā zagravei lā dagrave ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom

Blues

2761414

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Blues

29612234

ing

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31120806

ong

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

31309104

null

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10605704

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

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null

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10318361

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

3100761

iao

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

null

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null

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null

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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29861758

iang

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iong

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null

Blues

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null

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14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Blues

3231373

uo

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Blues

2935101

uai

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Blues

25910468

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Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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34088151

uang

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Blues

31501758

van

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Blues

4440816

null

Blues

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null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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3996742

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 55: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 55

Notes

1 uumln is written as un (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as un it is pronounced as uumln Examples

j

jūn ( 军 )

q

quacuten ( 裙 )

x

xuacuten ( 寻 )

y

yuacuten ( 云 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final un

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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2761414

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Blues

29612234

ing

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31120806

ong

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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3100761

iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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iang

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iong

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null

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14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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3231373

uo

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Blues

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uai

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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uang

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van

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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3996742

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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10274827

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 56: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 56

DAY 18 ang eng ing ong

ang

Pronounce bdquoa‟ first and then bdquong‟

eng

Pronounce bdquoe‟ first and then bdquong‟

ing

Pronounce bdquoi‟ first and then bdquong‟

ong

Pronounce bdquoo‟ first and then bdquong‟

Examples 181

Word Pinyin Meaning

灯笼 dēnglong

lantern

生病 shēngbigraveng

fall ill

螳螂 taacutenglaacuteng

mantis

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2761414

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ing

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ong

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Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

Blues

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null

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Blues

8855525

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

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3100761

iao

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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29861758

iang

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iong

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

Blues

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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uo

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uai

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Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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34088151

uang

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van

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null

Blues

9717554

null

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9351845

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 57: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 57

Examples 182

Word Pinyin Meaning

肮脏 āngzāng

dirty

苍蝇 cāngying

fly

虫 choacuteng

worm

Exercise 181

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Sentence

风筝

kite ______

叮当

clank __________

null

Blues

8254718

null

Blues

11180435

null

Blues

52506247

null

Blues

10318361

null

Blues

8855525

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

3100761

iao

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

26564617

null

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36832712

null

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37355163

null

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34481683

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

null

Blues

78367577

null

Blues

7471042

null

Blues

6582875

null

Blues

1645705

null

Blues

16692158

null

Blues

14262794

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

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Blues

29861758

iang

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Blues

25926795

iong

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

2945931

null

Blues

13348521

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17031757

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Blues

14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

Blues

40751095

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Blues

7418797

null

Blues

52506247

null

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14654625

null

Blues

17841572

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

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Blues

3231373

uo

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Blues

2935101

uai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

25910468

null

Blues

13061179

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14472559

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148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

Blues

7288184

null

Blues

3578781

null

Blues

77845125

null

Blues

12564859

null

Blues

6582875

null

Blues

17554218

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

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LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

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Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

Blues

10109385

null

Blues

12773836

null

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55379725

null

Blues

540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

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Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 58: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 58

DAY 19 ia iao

ia

Combination of i and a Like bdquoya‟ in Yahoo

iao

Combination of i and ao Like bdquoeow‟ in meow

Examples 191

Word Pinyin Meaning

家 jiā

house

加 jiā

plus

虾 xiā

shrimp

02 _02 Lesson 2-2

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

3100761

iao

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

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26564617

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36832712

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37355163

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34481683

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

29861758

iang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

25926795

iong

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

2945931

null

Blues

13348521

null

Blues

17031757

null

Blues

14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

Blues

40751095

null

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7418797

null

Blues

52506247

null

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14654625

null

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17841572

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

3231373

uo

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

2935101

uai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

25910468

null

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13061179

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14472559

null

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148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

Blues

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null

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3578781

null

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77845125

null

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12564859

null

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6582875

null

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17554218

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

LearnChineseEverydaycom

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Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

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9717554

null

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9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

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10109385

null

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12773836

null

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55379725

null

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540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

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55902176

null

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54857273

null

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24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 59: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 59

Examples 192

Word Pinyin Meaning

笑 xiagraveo

laugh

跳 tiagraveo

jump

鸟 niǎo

bird

Exercise 191

Choose the correct pinyin for each word

Word Meaning Choose One

手表

watch

1) shǒubiāo

2) shǒubiǎo

3) shǒupiǎo

叫喊

shout

1) jiāohǎn

2) jiǎohǎn

3) jiagraveohǎn

夏天

summer

1) xiātiān

2) xiaacutetiān

3) xiagravetiān

null

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null

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null

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null

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null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

29861758

iang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

25926795

iong

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

2945931

null

Blues

13348521

null

Blues

17031757

null

Blues

14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

Blues

40751095

null

Blues

7418797

null

Blues

52506247

null

Blues

14654625

null

Blues

17841572

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

3231373

uo

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

2935101

uai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

25910468

null

Blues

13061179

null

Blues

14472559

null

Blues

148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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3578781

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77845125

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12564859

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

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null

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55379725

null

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Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

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55902176

null

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54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 60: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 60

DAY 20 ian iang iong

ian

Like the Japanese currency word Yen

iang

Combination of i and ang Like young

iong

Combination of i and ong

Examples 201

Word Pinyin Meaning

想家 xiǎngjiā

homesick

面条 miagraventiaacuteo

noodles

凶相 xiōngxiagraveng

fierce look

ian

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 5

Blues

29861758

iang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 7

Blues

25926795

iong

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 9

Blues

2945931

null

Blues

13348521

null

Blues

17031757

null

Blues

14393404

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

Blues

40751095

null

Blues

7418797

null

Blues

52506247

null

Blues

14654625

null

Blues

17841572

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

3231373

uo

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

2935101

uai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

25910468

null

Blues

13061179

null

Blues

14472559

null

Blues

148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

Blues

7288184

null

Blues

3578781

null

Blues

77845125

null

Blues

12564859

null

Blues

6582875

null

Blues

17554218

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

Blues

10109385

null

Blues

12773836

null

Blues

55379725

null

Blues

540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 61: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 61

Examples 202

Word Pinyin Meaning

枪 qiāng

gun

电 diagraven

electricity

穷 qioacuteng

poor

Exercise 201

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

小熊

little bear ______

大象

elephant ______

null

Blues

40751095

null

Blues

7418797

null

Blues

52506247

null

Blues

14654625

null

Blues

17841572

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

3231373

uo

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

2935101

uai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

25910468

null

Blues

13061179

null

Blues

14472559

null

Blues

148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

Blues

7288184

null

Blues

3578781

null

Blues

77845125

null

Blues

12564859

null

Blues

6582875

null

Blues

17554218

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

Blues

10109385

null

Blues

12773836

null

Blues

55379725

null

Blues

540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 62: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 62

DAY 21 ua uo uai

ua

Like wah

uo

Like war

uai

Combination of u and ai Like why

Examples 211

Word Pinyin Meaning

花朵 huāduǒ

flower

摔坏 shuāi huagravei

break

说话 shuōhuagrave

talk

ua

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 2

Blues

3231373

uo

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 3

Blues

2935101

uai

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 4

Blues

25910468

null

Blues

13061179

null

Blues

14472559

null

Blues

148113575

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

Blues

7288184

null

Blues

3578781

null

Blues

77845125

null

Blues

12564859

null

Blues

6582875

null

Blues

17554218

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

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Blues

9717554

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9351845

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13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

Blues

10109385

null

Blues

12773836

null

Blues

55379725

null

Blues

540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

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28044887

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24635093

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Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

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17762989

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Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

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3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

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060669386

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078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 63: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 63

Examples 212

Word Pinyin Meaning

坐 zuograve

sit

瓜 guā

melon

帅 shuagravei

handsome

Exercise 211

Fill in the blank

Word Meaning Pinyin

桌子

table

zh ____ zi

claw

zh ____

快乐

happy

k ____ lacirc

null

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7288184

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3578781

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77845125

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12564859

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6582875

null

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17554218

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

Blues

10109385

null

Blues

12773836

null

Blues

55379725

null

Blues

540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 64: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 64

DAY 22 uan uang uumlan

uan

Combination of u and an Like bdquowan‟ in wand

uang

Combination of u and ang

uumlan

Combination of uuml and an

Examples 221

Word Pinyin Meaning

观光 guānguāng

go sightseeing

圆圈 yuaacutenquān

circle

宽广 kuānguǎng

broad

uan

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 6

Blues

34088151

uang

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 8

Blues

31501758

van

LearnChineseEverydaycom

LearnChineseEverydaycom track 11

Blues

4440816

null

Blues

9717554

null

Blues

9351845

null

Blues

13818719

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

Blues

10109385

null

Blues

12773836

null

Blues

55379725

null

Blues

540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 65: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 65

Examples 222

Word Pinyin Meaning

欢迎 huānyiacuteng

welcome

慌张 huāngzhāng

nervous

窗口 chuāngkǒu

window

Exercise 221

Fill in the blank with the correct Pinyin

Word Pinyin

ship ____

bed ____

null

Blues

11102023

null

Blues

10109385

null

Blues

12773836

null

Blues

55379725

null

Blues

540736

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 66: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 66

Notes

1 uumlan is written as uan (without the 2 dots above) when it is used with initial j q x or y Tough it is written as uan it is pronounced as uumlan Examples

j

jūan ( 捐 )

q

quacutean ( 全 )

x

xuacutean ( 玄 )

y

yuacutean ( 圆 )

2 In Chinese Pinyin system there is no syllable with initial j q x or y combines with final uan

null

Blues

3996742

null

Blues

55902176

null

Blues

54857273

null

Blues

24293885

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 67: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 67

Section 5

Pinyin Rules

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 68: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 68

DAY 23 Spelling Rules

In 1988 Basic Spelling Rules for Pinyin Orthography (汉语拼音

正词法基本规则) (ZhengCiFa) was jointly promulgated by the National Education Commission and National Language Commission of China By the spelling rules spacing in pinyin is based on whole words not single syllables

Example

Chinese words 妈妈的手袋

Pinyin based on Spelling Rules (ZhengCiFa)

māma de shǒudagravei

Pinyin with syllable by syllable mā ma de shǒu dagravei

English meaning Moms handbag

Admittedly word segmentation is not an easy task There are often ambiguities in partitioning a word and grouping the syllable

Although several manuals for word segmentation have been published [ including RLG Chinese Aggregation Guidelines (The Research Libraries Group Inc 1987) Basic Rules of Chinese

Pinyin Orthography (State Education Commission and State Language Commission 1988) and Contemporary Chinese

Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information

Processing (National Standard PRC 1992) ] none of them would cover every single detail in this process due to the complex nature of modern Chinese morphology and syntax

In principle its possible to write Pinyin texts syllable by syllable I have been using non-ZhengCiFa method (syllable by syllable) for Pinyin writing on my website (wwwlearnchineseeverydaycom) I believe it is easier to read and understand for beginners who just started learning Chinese

If you don‟t like rules you can just skip this long-winded lesson You can use syllable by syllable for you pinyin writing

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 69: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 69

Rules of Pinyin Orthography

1 General i Single meaning

Words with a single meaning are written together and not capitalized Examples reacuten ( 人 person ) peacutengyou ( 朋友 friend ) qiǎokegraveligrave ( 巧克力 chocolate )

ii Combined meaning (2 characters) Words combined of two words to one meaning are written together Examples hǎifēng ( 海风 sea breeze ) wegravendaacute ( 问答 QampA ) quaacutenguoacute ( 全国 the whole nation )

iii Combined meaning (4 or more characters) Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible Examples wuacutefegraveng gāngguǎn ( 无缝钢管 seamless steel-tube) huaacutenjigraveng bǎohugrave guīhuagrave ( 环境保护规划 environmental protection planning)

2 Duplicated Words i AA

Duplicated characters (AA) are written together Examples reacutenreacuten ( 人人 everybody )

kagravenkagraven ( 看看 to have a look ) niaacutenniaacuten ( 年年 every year )

ii ABAB Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated Examples yaacutenjiū yaacutenjiū ( 研究研究 to study to research ) xuěbaacutei xuěbaacutei ( 雪白雪白 snow-white )

iii AABB A hyphen is used with the schema AABB Examples laacuteilaacutei-wǎngwǎng ( 来来往往 go back and forth ) qiānqiān-wagravenwagraven ( 千千万万 numerous )

3 Nouns and Names (名词)

Nouns are written in one Example zhuōzi ( 桌子 table ) mugravetou ( 木头 wood ) i Even if accompanied by a prefix and suffix Examples

fugravebugravezhǎng ( 副部长 vice minister ) cheacutengwugraveyuaacuten ( 乘务员 conductor ) haacuteizimen ( 孩子们 children )

ii Words of position are separated Examples meacuten wagravei ( 门外 outdoor ) heacute li ( 河里 in the river ) huǒchē shagravengmian ( 火车上面 on the train)

iii Surnames are separated from the given name Examples Lǐ Huaacute ( 李华 ) Waacuteng Jiagravengguoacute ( 王将国 )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 70: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 70

iv Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized Examples Waacuteng bugravezhǎng ( 王部长 minister Wang ) Lǐ xiānsheng ( 李先生 Mr Li ) Tiaacuten zhǔregraven ( 田主任 director Tian )

v The forms of addressing people with Lǎo ( 老 ) Xiǎo (小) Dagrave (大) and A (阿) are capitalized Examples Xiǎo Liuacute ( 小刘 [young] MsMr Liu ) Dagrave Lǐ ( 大李 [greatelder] Mr Li ) A Sān ( 阿三 Ah San ) Lǎo Wuacute ( 老吴 [senior] Mr Wu )

vi Proper names and general geographical names of places are separated and the first letter of each of the names is capitalized Examples Běijīng Shigrave ( 北京市 City of Beijing ) Heacuteběi Shěng ( 河北省 Province of Hebei )

vii Non-Chinese names translated back from Chinese are written either in the original language or transcribed in Roman letters Example Agravei‟īnsītǎn ( 爱因斯坦 Einstein ) Luacutendūn ( 伦敦 London )

4 Verbs (动词)

Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe (着) -le (了) and -guo (过)) are written as one Example kagravenzhekagravenlekagravenguo ( 看着看了看过 to seesawseen ) jigravenxiacutengzhe ( 进行着 to implement )

Note le (了) as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though Example Huǒchē dagraveo le ( 火车到了 The train [has] arrived) i Verbs and their objects are separated Examples

kagraven xigraven ( 看信 read a letter ) chī yuacute ( 吃鱼 eat fish) kāi waacutenxiagraveo ( 开玩笑 to be kidding)

ii If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic they are written together if not separated Examples gǎohuagravei ( 搞坏 to make broken ) dǎsǐ ( 打死 hit to death ) huagraveweacutei ( 化为 to become damp ) zhěnglǐ hǎo ( 整理好 to straighten out ) gǎixiě weacutei ( 改写为 rewrite a screenplay )

5 Adjectives (形容词) A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one Example mēngmēngliagraveng ( 蒙蒙亮 daybreak ) liagravengtāngtāng ( 亮堂堂 shining bright )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 71: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 71

i Complements of size or degree (as xiē (些 ) yīxiē (一些) diǎnr (点儿) yīdiǎnr (一点儿)) are written separated Examples dagrave xiē ( 大些 a little bigger ) kuagravei yīdiānr ( 快一点儿 a bit faster )

6 Pronouns (代词) i The plural suffix -men (们) directly follows up Examples

wǒmen ( 我们 we ) tāmen ( 他们 they )

ii The demonstrative pronoun zhegrave ( 这 this) nagrave ( 那 that) and the question pronoun nǎ ( 哪 which) are separated Examples zhegrave reacuten ( 这人 this person ) nagrave cigrave huigraveyigrave ( 那次会议 that meeting ) nǎ zhāng bagraveozhǐ ( 哪张报纸 which newspaper)

Note Exeptions are nagraveli ( 那里 there) zhegravebian ( 这边 over here) zhegravege ( 这个 this piece) zhegraveme ( 这么 so) zhegravemeyagraveng ( 这 么 样 that way) and similar ones

7 Numerals and Measure Words (量词) i Words like gegrave měi ( 各 every 每 each) mǒu ( 某

any) běn ( 本 that) gāi ( 该 that) wǒ ( 我 mine our) are separated from the measure words following them Examples

gegrave guoacute ( 各国 every nation ) gegrave gegrave ( 各个 everyone ) měi niaacuten ( 每年 every year ) mǒu gōngchǎng ( 某工厂 a certain factory ) wǒ xiagraveo ( 我校 our school )

8 Function Words (虚词) Function words like 很最和的吗 are separated from other words Examples hěn hǎo ( 很好 be goodfine ) zuigrave dagrave ( 最大 be the biggest ) zagravei qiaacutenmiagraven ( 在前面 in the front ) nǐ heacute wǒ ( 你和我 you and I ) magravenmagraven de zou ( 慢慢地走 walk slowly ) Nǐ zhīdagraveo ma ( 你知道吗 Do you know ) A zhēn měi ( 啊真美 Ah It‟s really beautiful )

9 Set Phrases Idioms (成语)

i Four-character Set Phrases that can be divided into two halves are linked by a hyphen Examples ceacutengchū-bugraveqioacuteng ( 层出不穷 happened endlessly) guāngmiacuteng-lěiluograve ( 光明磊落 be righteous )

ii All other four-character set phrases and well-known expressions that cannot be readily segmented are linked Examples

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 72: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 72

bugraveyigravelegravehū ( 不亦乐乎 Isn‟t it a happy thing ) agraveimograveneacutengzhugrave ( 爱莫能助 Sorry that I can‟t help you )

10 Capital Letters i The letter at the beginning of a sentence is capitalized

Examples Miacutengtian nǐ qugrave ma ( 明天你去吗 Are you going tomorrow )

ii The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized Examples Běijīng Dagravexueacute ( 北京大学 Peking University ) Huaacuteng Heacute ( 黄河 Yellow River )

11 Hyphenations Care should be taken to hyphenate only between the syllables of words and other linked expressions at the ends of lines of running texts

12 Apostrophes In order to avoid confusion an apostrophe is used before any syllable that begins with a e or o unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash Examples Chaacutengān ( 长安 Changan ) chāoeacute ( 超额 above quota ) digrave-egraver ( 第二 number two )

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 73: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 73

DAY 24 Changes of Tones

In Chinese it happens that sometimes the tones of words change depending on the tone of the word that precedes or comes after it We change the tones of certain Pinyin syllable to improve the pronunciation clarity Today we will learn when we need to make those changes Here are some rules and examples

Rule 1

1 If a 3rd tone is followed by a 3rd tone the first 3rd tone becomes a 2nd tone

Examples

Sound Words Prases Meaning

nǐ (niacute) hǎo

你 好

hello

hěn (heacuten) hǎo

很 好

very good

hǎo (haacuteo) jiǔ

好 酒

good wine

shuǐ (shuiacute) guǒ

水 果

fruit

2 Although the first syllable is read in second tone both of the syllables are still written with third tones

Blues

28044887

Blues

24635093

Blues

2983346

Blues

26849513

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 74: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 74

Rule 2

1 The word 不 (bugrave)(no not) is pronounced in the 2nd tone

(buacute) when it is put before a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in neutral tone developed from 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

buacute xiegrave

不 谢

don‟t mention it

buacute shigrave

不 是

no it isn‟t

buacute cuograve

不 错

not bad

buacute duigrave

不 对

wrong

2 ldquo不rdquo is still pronounced in the 4th tone (bugrave) when it precedes a

syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

bugrave xīn

不 新

not new

bugrave laacutei

不 来

not come

bugrave hǎo

不 好

not good

3 To simplify ldquo不rdquo is marked in the fourth tone ldquobugraverdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

Blues

17762989

Blues

19575232

Blues

20944755

Blues

1432952

Blues

15103669

Blues

1550367

Blues

20855503

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 75: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 75

Rule 3

1 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 2nd tone (yiacute) when

it precedes a syllable in the 4th tone (or a syllable in the neutral tone developed from the 4th tone)

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yiacute kuagravei

一 块

a block

yiacute gegrave

一 个

a piece

yiacute cigrave

一 次

one time

yiacute wagraven

一 万

ten thousand

2 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the 4th tone (yigrave) when

it precedes a syllable in the 1st 2nd or 3rd tone

Example Sound Words Prases Meaning

yigrave tiān

一 天

one day

yigrave niaacuten

一 年

one year

yigrave bǎi

一 百

one hundred

Blues

22147477

Blues

24764345

Blues

25362167

Blues

2455972

Blues

26122167

Blues

21587477

Blues

23157

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 76: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 76

3 The word 一 (yī) (one) is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when

i yī comes at the end of a word Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

wagraven yī

万 一

in case

weacutei yī

唯 一

only

ii it acts as an ordinal number to indicate the number ldquoonerdquo Example

Sound Words Prases Meaning

yī niaacuten jiacute

一 年 级

first grade

yī hagraveo

一 号

the first day of month

digrave yī miacuteng

第 一 名

the first place

4 To simplify ldquo一rdquo is marked in the first tone ldquoyīrdquo in Chinese

dictionary entries In some Chinese textbooks on the other hand it is marked according to the actual pronunciation

null

Blues

10274827

Blues

06596462

Blues

1060408

Blues

060669386

Blues

078742844

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 77: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 77

ANSWER

Exercise 21

1 bagraveo 2 guǒ 3 tiě 4 kě 5 jiagraveo 6 mǒu 7 quegrave 8 qiuacute 9 guī Exercise 31

额 eacute 恶 egrave 鳄 egrave Exercise 41

肚 dugrave 梨 liacute 女 nǚ Exercise 51

发 f agrave 佛 foacute 爬 paacute

木 mugrave 坡 pō Exercise 61

路 lugrave 吐 tǔ 怒 nugrave Exercise 71

鸽 gē 卡 kǎ 喝 hē Exercise 81

骑 qiacute 洗 xǐ Exercise 91

纸 zhǐ 车 chē 沙 shā Exercise 101

撕破 sīpograve 狮子 shīzǐ Exercise 111

椰子 yēzǐ 娃娃 waacutewa Exercise 121

买菜 mǎicagravei 开会 kāihuigrave Exercise 131

收到 shōudagraveo 一头牛 yī toacuteu niuacute Exercise 141

雪糕 xuěgāo 跌倒 diēdǎo Exercise 151

二胡 egraverhuacute 鱼饵 yuacuteěr 驴儿 lǘeacuter Exercise 161

满身 mǎnshēn

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 78: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 78

难看 naacutenkagraven Exercise 171

军训 jūnxugraven 提琴 tiacuteqiacuten Exercise 181

风筝 fēngzheng 叮当 dīngdāng Exercise 191

手表 shǒubiǎo 叫喊 jiagraveohǎn 夏天 xiagravetiān Exercise 201

小熊 xiǎo xioacuteng 大象 dagrave xiagraveng Exercise 211

桌子 zhuō zǐ 爪 zhuǎ 快乐 kuagravei legrave Exercise 221

船 chuaacuten 床 chuaacuteng

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml

Page 79: Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days

Learn Hanyu Pinyin in 24 Days LearnChineseEverydaycom 79

REFERENCES

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPinyin

httpmandarinaboutcom

httppinyininfo

httpwwwpinyinpracticecom

httpwwwbbccouklanguageschinesereal_chinese

httpwwwpinyinologycomzhengcifazhengcifahtml