Four Tones

Maybe
Yeah
Really
Aow
Tones in Mandarin Chinese

high: ma ‘mother’ - 1
low: ma ‘horse’ \/ 3
rising: ma ‘hemp’ / 2
falling: ma ‘scold’ \ 4
English intonation
who?/ right!\
Tone marks

mā = ma1= ma-
má = ma2= ma/
mǎ= ma3=ma\/
mà = ma4 = ma\
Online resource
Pinyin chart
https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-pinyin-chart.php

https://www.yoyochinese.com/chinese-learning-tool
s/Mandarin-Chinese-pronunciation-lesson/pinyin-ch
art-table

Dictionary mdbg.net
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary
Google translate: https://translate.google.com/
 
Numbers

一 二 三 四 五
yī
 èr sān sì wǔ
1 2 3 4 5

numbers

六 七 八 九 十
liù qī bā jiǔ shí
6 7 8 9 10
 中国字的笔顺
 Zhōngguó zì de bǐshùn

These are some general guidelines for the

stroke order of writing Chinese characters.

From left to right

人
From top to bottom
二
Horizontal before vertical
十
From outside to inside
月
Middle before two sides
小
Left vertical before enclosing
口
Inside before closing
日
 Practice writing some characters.

WEEK 1 LESSON 1

汉语语音系统 I
Chinese Pronunciation
System _ Initials

中文
Chinese Language
Objectives
Student will be able to listen, read, and speak

 Chinese Pronunciation System – Initials (consonants).

 Chinese Syllables.
 Simple Finals.
 Tones.
 Classroom Expressions: Listen to me. Read after me. Look at the
whiteboard.
 汉语拼音 Chinese Phonetics
In modern Chinese, there are altogether 21 initials (consonant) and 36 finals (vowels). A
syllable can stand without an initial, but no syllable will do without a final.

声母 Initials/Consonants

# Letter Pronunciation as in English Symbol Example Pronunciation

in Chinese

1. like b in “bore” but

b b 表 biǎo
is unaspirated

2. like p in “port” but is

p p 票 piào
always produce with
a strong puff of air

3. is equivalent to m in “more”.
m 猫 māo
m

4. is equivalent to f in “four”
f f 佛 fó
 汉语拼音 Chinese Phonetics
声母 Initials/Consonants (continued)

# Letter Pronunciation as in English Symbol Example Pronunciation in

Chinese

5. d is similar to d in “dirt” but is

d d 灯 dēng
voiceless

6. t is similar to t in “term.” It is
t t 汤 tāng
produced with a stronger puff of air
and with the tip of the tongue more
to the front of the mouth than the
“t” in English.

7. n is equivalent to n in “nurse”.
n 牛 niú
n

8. l is equivalent to l in “learn”
l l 蓝 lán
 汉语拼音 Chinese Phonetics
声母 Initials/Consonants (continued)

# Letter Pronunciation as in English Symbol Example Pronunciation

in Chinese

9. z is similar to the cluster dz

z dz 字 zì
in cards but in voiceless and
is produced with the tip of
the tongue more to the front
of the mouth

10. c is the aspirated

c ts 菜 cài
counterpart of z. It is similar
to the cluster ts in “its” but
is pronounced with a
stronger puff of air and with
the tip of the tongue more to
the front of the mouth.
11. s is similar to s in “sir” but in
s 伞 sǎ n
pronouncing it, the tip of the
s tongue more to the front of
the mouth.
12. zh is similar to the j in
zh ts 猪 zhū
“judge”, but is pronounced
with the tip of the tongue
drawn more to the back of
the mouth.
 汉语拼音 Chinese Phonetics
声母 Initials/Consonants (continued)
# Letter Pronunciation as in English Symbol Example Pronunciation in
Chinese

13. In pronouncing it, the tip of the

ch ts 车 chē
tongue drawn more to the back
of the mouth than when
pronouncing ch in “church.’

14. To pronounce it, the tip of the

sh ∫ 山 shān
tongue is drawn more to the
back of the tongue than when
pronouncing sh of “shirt.”

15. r is voiced counterpart of sh. It is zh 日 rì

different r of “run.” in English in
r that, to pronounce it, the tip of
the tongue is drawn more to the
back and the lips are not pursed.

16. j is similar to the d and y

j dЗ 鸡 jī
combination in “and yet”, but is
voiceless. When pronouncing it,
the tip of the tongue is much
lower than pronouncing j of
“jeep.”
 汉语拼音 Chinese Phonetics
声母 Initials/Consonants (continued)

# Letter Pronunciation as in English Symbol Example Pronunciation

in Chinese

17. q is the aspirated form of j.

q t∫ 钱 qián
The tip of the tongue is much
lower than pronouncing ch in
“cheese.”

18. x is similar to the s and y

x 线 xiàn
combination of “bless you.” ∫i
The tip of the tongue is much
lower than when pronouncing
sh of the English “she.”
19. g is similar to the English
g 锅 guō
consonant g in “girl” but
g voiceless.

20. k is similar to k in “kerf”, but

k k 口 kǒu
is produced with a stronger
aspiration.
 汉语拼音 Chinese Phonetics
声母 Initials/Consonants (continued)

# Letter Pronunciation as in English Symbol Example Pronunciation

in Chinese

21. h is produced by raising the

h h 虎 hǔ
back of tongue toward the
soft palate and releasing
the air through the channel
thus made. It is different
from the h of English.
练习 1. Listen to each Chinese word and match it with its corresponding initial.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

b p m f d t n l
练习 1. (continued) Listen to each Chinese word and match it with its corresponding initial.

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

g k h z c s zh ch
练习 1. (continued) Listen to each Chinese word and match it with its corresponding initial.

17 18 19 20 21

sh r j q x
汉语的音节 Chinese Syllables

The basic unit of Chinese pronunciation is the

syllable. A syllable in Chinese may consist of a
1. vowel: a
2. vowel and a consonant: an
3. consonant and a vowel: ba
4. consonant and a vowel and a consonant: ban, bang
汉语的音节 Chinese Syllables
When a syllable begins with a consonant (examples 3 and 4, on the
previous slide), the components of the syllable are traditionally
referred to as

 the initial and the final: b is called an initial and a, an, or ang are
called finals.
 A vowel always carries a tone, which is a musical pitch to
differentiate meaning. Therefore, the syllable ba signifies different
meanings depending on which tone it is pronounced with. In the
following sections, we will introduce the initials, finals and tones in
detail.
 单韵母 Simple Finals

There are six simple finals in standard Chinese. Listen and read them aloud .

a o e i u ü
练习 2. Listen and circle the finals you hear in each row.

a i u o

b ba bi bu bo

p pa pi pu po

m ma mi mu mo

f fa fu fo
练习 3. Write the Chinese sounds you hear in pinyin.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

练习 4. Underline the initials you hear in each pair.

1. zha sha 11. ba pa

2. she zhe 12. mu nu
3. cha zha 13. ke ge
4. zhi ri 14. ji qi
5. zhi shi 15. xi yi
6. she re 16. re zhe
7. chi shi 17. ci chi
8. zi si 18. te zhe
9. ce ze 19. hu wu
10. la na 20. ne ze
音调 Tones
There are four tones in the Chinese language, plus a neutral tone. The tone is very important in speaking Chinese. A
character with the same symbols may express different meanings when it is pronounced in different tones. The tone marks
are written above the main vowel of a syllable. The main vowel can be identified according to the following sequence: a-o-
e-i-u-ü. For example, in ao the main vowel is a. When i and u are combined into a syllable, tone mark is written on the
second vowel: iù, uǐ.

Tone Marks

• The first tone: 5-5, mā 妈 (mother)

• The second tone: 3-5 má 麻 (hemp)

• The third tone: 2-1-4, mǎ 马 (horse)

• The fourth tone 5-1, mà 骂 (curse)

Note: The first tone is high-level tone, the second tone starts from the middle pitch and rises to the
high pitch, the third tone starts from the mid-low pitch, falls to the low pitch and then rises to the
mid-high pitch and the fourth tone is a complete falling tone. It falls from the high-pitch to the low-
pitch.
练习 5. Write the tone mark above each syllable according to the tones you hear.

1. ta 2. zu 3. se 4. ci 5. zhu 6. ju

7. qu 8. xi 9. ya 10. wa 11. shu 12. chu

13. zha 14. li 15. da 16.che 17.re 18. he

课堂用语 Classroom Expressions

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