Pinyin Foundation (1) Pinyin Foundation (1) 拼音基础

Pinyin System The Pinyin system is the Chinese phonetic alphabet for transliterating Chinese characters. It can help you learn standard Mandarin pronunciation. You may use it to type Chinese characters on computers.

Structure of Syllables A Chinese syllable has three elements: initial, final, and tone. For example: 你好！Nǐ hǎo! Tone InitialFinal (Consonant) (y/w) Vowel (Ending) (i u ü medial) (a o e i u ü) (n ng)

Syllable Examples CharacterPinyinInitialFinal 八bāba 好hǎohao 班bānban 忙mángmang

Syllable Examples (Cont’) CharacterPinyinInitialFinal 也yěye 我wǒ 亮liàngliàng 国guóg 略lüèl

Tones Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language. Each character has one of four distinctive tones. They are written as: 1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th ˉ ˊ ˇ ˋ

Tones (Cont’)

The 1 st tone ( 55 ) is a “ high-level ” tone, e.g. “ mā ” The 2 nd tone ( 35 ) is a “ high-rising ” tone, e.g. “ má ” The 3 rd tone ( 214 ) is a “ falling-and- rising ” tone, e.g. “ mǎ ” The 4 th tone ( 51) is a “ falling ” tone, e.g. “ mà ”

Tone Examples (1) Pinyin bābábǎbà Character 八拔靶爸 Meaning eightto pull out targetdad Sound

Tone Examples (2) Pinyin māmāmámámǎmǎmàmà Character 妈麻马骂 Meaning momhemphorseto scold Sound

Tone Examples (3) Pinyin bōbóbǒbò Character 波伯跛擘 Meaning waveunclelamethumb Sound

Tone Examples (4) Pinyin dādádádǎdǎdàdà Character 搭答打大 Meaning to build up to answer to hitbig Sound

Tone Examples (5) Pinyin tītítǐtì Character 梯提体剃 Meaning ladderto liftbodyto shave Sound

Tone Examples (6) Pinyin wūwúwǔwù Character 屋无五雾 Meaning houseto not have fivefog Sound

Tone Exercises ā á ǎ à ā ō ó ǒ ò ó ē é ě è è

Tone Exercises ī í ǐ ì yī ū ú ǔ ù wǔ mī mí mǐ mì mǐ nī ní nǐ nì ní hāo háo hǎo hào hào kōu kóu kǒu kòu kōu hēi héi hěi hèi hēi

Tone Exercises bāi bái bǎi bài bái cāi cái cǎi cài cāi pēi péi pěi pèi pèi gēi géi gěi gèi gěi māi mái mǎi mài mài zān zán zǎn zàn zān jīn jín jǐn jìn jǐn

Classroom Expressions: Chinese: 你好。 Pinyin: Nǐ hǎo. English:Hello. Chinese: 再见。 Pinyin: Zài jiàn. English:Goodbye.

Homework Practice reading the examples on page F-3 in the textbook. Practice reading the classroom expressions and learn them by heart.