Pinyin and tone practice

Get your pinyin basics right

A free starting point for absolute beginners to practise initials, finals and the four tones.

Initials that are easy to confuse

Practise mouth shape and airflow with the most commonly confused pairs.

爸爸 bàba朋友 péngyou

b is unaspirated, p is aspirated. Hold your hand in front of your mouth to feel the puff of air.

大的 dà de他们 tāmen

d and t also differ only in aspiration (the puff of air).

中国 Zhōngguó吃饭 chīfàn老师 lǎoshī

Curl the tongue tip up and back; the sound sits further back.

今天 jīntiān谢谢 xièxie请 qǐng

Made with the front of the tongue; spread the corners of your mouth slightly.

Look and say: get to know the shape of each of the four tones.

mā 妈shū 书

High and level; don't let the pitch drop.

má 麻xué 学

Rises from mid to high, like asking a question.

mǎ 马nǐ 你

Low, then rising; in connected speech it is often a half third tone (just low).

mà 骂xiè 谢

Falls quickly from high to low; short and strong.