Chinese characters to pinyin
Paste any Chinese text and every character gets its pinyin and tone. Characters with several readings are read by the word they're in.
Pinyin
nǐ hǎo！ wǒ jiào ān nà， wǒ shì yīng guó rén。 wǒ zài běi jīng xué xí hàn yǔ。
Tap a word to hear it syllable by syllable. HSK words open in the dictionary.
How to read pinyin
A pinyin syllable is an initial consonant plus a final: 好 hǎo = h + ao. The tone mark sits on the main vowel, and syllables of one word are written together: 北京 Běijīng, 学习 xuéxí.
A few letters don't sound like English: x is a soft “sh”, q a soft “ch”, j like “j” with the tongue flat, zh a hard “j”, c “ts” with a puff of air, r close to the “s” in “measure”, ü is “ee” with rounded lips. Hear every syllable in the pinyin chart.
The four tones
The same syllable in a different tone is a different word: 妈 mā “mum”, 麻 má “numb”, 马 mǎ “horse”, 骂 mà “to scold”. The converter colours each tone; check how you hear and say them in the tone test.
Questions and answers
What is pinyin?
The official way to write Mandarin in Latin letters. Each character is one syllable, and the mark over the vowel shows its tone: ā level, á rising, ǎ dipping, à falling. No mark means the light (neutral) tone.
Why does one character have different pinyin?
About a thousand characters are read differently depending on the word: 行 is xíng “to go” but háng in 银行 “bank”. The converter reads whole words, but may slip on rare names or poetry — check a dictionary when it matters.
Why do 不 and 一 sometimes change tone?
Before a 4th tone, 不 and 一 are said in the 2nd: 不对 bú duì, 一个 yí gè. The converter writes dictionary tones, as textbooks do; the change happens in speech.
Can I learn the words from here?
Yes: words from the HSK lists are linked, and in the Baozi app you can learn them with flashcards, audio and a tone check.
More tools
- Pinyin chart with audioEvery syllable in four tones, recorded by a native speaker
- Chinese tone testHear and say: a score for each tone in 2 minutes
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