What Is Pinyin?
Pinyin writes Mandarin pronunciation with Roman letters, helping you connect new sounds with Chinese characters.
Quick answer
Pinyin is a pronunciation guide. Read the letters as Mandarin sounds, not automatically as English sounds.
Hear the phrase, then repeat it aloud.
When to use it
Use pinyin while learning how a new word sounds. Keep looking at the Chinese characters too, so sound and meaning stay connected.
Common mistake
Reading pinyin as English. q, x and c
are the classic traps: 七 qī starts close to the ‘ch’ in ‘cheese’, 谢 xiè close to ‘sh’, and 菜 cài with a ‘ts’ followed by a strong puff of air.
Practise aloud
You’ve got this!
Pinyin is most useful when you listen, repeat, and compare your sound with a clear model. Tone marks are part of the pronunciation, so read nǐ as a complete sound rather than reading only ni.