Mandarin Pinyin Chart
Every syllable in Mandarin, arranged by initial and final. Click any cell to hear it and see the four tones with example characters.
How to read the chart
A Mandarin syllable has two parts: an initial (the consonant it starts with, or nothing) and a final (the vowel part, sometimes ending in n or ng). The chart puts initials down the side and finals across the top.
Only about half of the 22 × 36 combinations are real syllables — that's why the chart has gaps. There are 401 valid syllables, and the grey cells are combinations Mandarin simply does not use.
y and w are not initials. They are spelling rules for syllables with no initial: i is written yi, u is written wu, ü is written yu. That is why those syllables appear in the i, u and ü columns rather than in a row of their own.
The four tones
Every syllable above can carry one of four tones, plus a neutral tone. The tone mark sits over the main vowel — with the order a → o → e → last vowel deciding which one that is.
- first toneˉ
high and level
- second toneˊ
rising
- third toneˇ
dipping
- fourth toneˋ
falling
- neutral tone·
short and unstressed
Want to check whether you can produce them? Try the tone trainer — it records you and shows your own pitch curve.
All 401 syllables
Grouped by initial. Click any syllable for its four tones and the characters that use it.