What is pinyin?
Chinese characters don't tell you how to say them. Pinyin solves this by spelling each character's sound with the English alphabet. 中文 (Chinese) is written zhōng wén. It's the standard system used in textbooks and dictionaries, and on phones to type Chinese.
Each character is one syllable. The little mark above a vowel shows the tone: whether your voice stays level, rises, dips or falls. Tones matter in Chinese. The same syllable with a different tone is a different word.
The four tones (plus the neutral tone)
Here's the classic example. All five are “ma”, but they mean different things:
| Tone | Example | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|
| 1st tone | mā 妈 mother · ma1 | High and flat, like holding a note: “maaa” |
| 2nd tone | má 麻 hemp · ma2 | Rises, like asking “huh?” |
| 3rd tone | mǎ 马 horse · ma3 | Dips low, then rises. In fast speech it often just stays low |
| 4th tone | mà 骂 to scold · ma4 | Falls sharply, like a firm “No!” |
| Neutral tone | ma 吗 question word · ma5 | Short and light, no mark |
Tip: turn on Color-code the tones under More options to see each tone in a different color while you read.
One character, different sounds
Some characters change pronunciation depending on the word they're in. Many simple tools check one character at a time and guess wrong. PinyinKit looks at the whole word:
- 银行 yín háng (bank) vs 行走 xíng zǒu (to walk)
- 重要 zhòng yào (important) vs 重庆 chóng qìng (Chongqing)
- 长城 cháng chéng (the Great Wall) vs 长大 zhǎng dà (to grow up)
- 还是 hái shì (or, still) vs 还钱 huán qián (to pay back)
No tool gets every one right. Characters that can be read more than one way have a dotted underline. If one looks wrong, tap it and pick another pronunciation. Your choice is used when you copy.
Why 一 and 不 sometimes change tone
Two very common characters change tone when spoken, depending on the tone of the next syllable:
- 不 (not) is normally bù, but before a 4th tone it becomes bú: 不是 bú shì (is not).
- 一 (one) is normally yī. Before a 4th tone it becomes yí (一个 yí gè, one of something), and before other tones it becomes yì (一天 yì tiān, one day). When you count or read numbers, it stays yī (第一 dì yī, first).
PinyinKit shows the spoken tone and highlights it, so you say it the way native speakers do. Dictionaries and most flashcard decks write the original tones instead. To match them, turn off Spoken tones for 一 and 不.
Tone marks or tone numbers?
Tone marks (nǐ hǎo) are what you'll see in textbooks. Tone numbers (ni3 hao3) put the tone after the syllable as a number from 1 to 4. They're easy to type on any keyboard, which makes them handy for notes, spreadsheets and flashcards. For number style, More options lets you choose how the neutral tone is written (ma5, ma0 or just ma) and how to type ü (lü4, lv4 or lu:4).
Make Anki flashcards with pinyin
Anki is a popular free flashcard app. To get pinyin shown above each character on your cards:
- Convert your text here and click Copy for Anki. You'll get something like
你[nǐ]好[hǎo]. - Paste it into a field on your Anki note, for example a field called Chinese.
-
In your card template, show that field as
{{furigana:Chinese}}. Anki puts the pinyin above each character.
Use {{kanji:Chinese}} to show only the characters (for example on the front of the
card) and {{kana:Chinese}} to show only the pinyin. The names come from Japanese,
but they work for Chinese too.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between Hanzi and pinyin?
Hanzi are Chinese characters, like 你好. They’re how Chinese is actually written. Pinyin spells out how those characters sound using the English alphabet, like nǐ hǎo. Learners use pinyin to learn pronunciation, but native readers read Hanzi.
Does it work with traditional Chinese characters?
Yes. You can paste simplified characters (used in mainland China and Singapore) or traditional characters (used in Taiwan and Hong Kong). The pinyin is the same, and your original characters are kept.
How do I know which tone mark goes on which letter?
The mark goes on a or e if the syllable has one (hǎo, méi). In ou it goes on the o (dōu). Otherwise it goes on the last vowel (guó, liù). PinyinKit places the marks for you.
Why does it say nǐ hǎo and not ní hǎo?
When two 3rd tones come together, the first one is pronounced like a 2nd tone, so 你好 sounds like “ní hǎo”. This change is never written in pinyin, not even in textbooks or dictionaries, so PinyinKit writes nǐ hǎo too. Only the changes for 一 and 不 are commonly written.
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. Everything runs in your browser, so the text you paste never leaves your device.
I found a wrong pronunciation. What should I do?
Tap the syllable and choose the right pronunciation, and your copied text will use it. We keep adding common words to our correction list so the tool keeps improving.