Help:IPA/Mandarin

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Standard Mandarin pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA}}, Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Standard Chinese phonology for more detail on the sounds of Mandarin Chinese.

Consonants
IPA Pinyin Wade–Giles Bopomofo Chinese example English approximation
ɕ x hs 晓/曉/xiǎo sheep,[a] but more y-like
f f 非/fēi fan
j y-/-i- 牙/yá yes
k g k 干/gān skin
k k' 口/kǒu kin
l l 来/來/lái leaf
m m 明/míng moon
n n ㄋ,ㄣ,ㄢ 泥/ní noon
ŋ -ng ㄥ,ㄤ 江/jiāng song
p b p 帮/幫/bāng span
p p' 滂/páng pan
ʐ[b] r- j 日/rì pleasure, but with tongue curled or pulled back
s s 私/sī same
ʂ sh 矢/shǐ show, but without lip rounding and with tongue curled or pulled back
t d t 端/duān stop
t t' 透/tòu top
j ch 叫/jiào cheap,[a] but more y-like (without lip rounding)
tɕʰ q ch' 去/qù Above, but with a strong burst of breath (aspiration)
ts z ts 子/zǐ outset
tsʰ c ts' 此/cǐ let's help
ʈʂ zh ch 之/zhī cheer, but without lip rounding and with tongue curled or pulled back
ʈʂʰ ch ch' 吃/chī Above, but with a strong burst of breath (aspiration)
w w-/-u- 我/wǒ water
x h 火/huǒ loch (Scottish English)
ɥ yu-/-ü-[c] yü-/-ü- 月/yuè between wet and yet
Vowels
IPA Pinyin Wade–Giles Bopomofo Chinese example English approximation
a a ㄚ,ㄢ 阿,安 cat
er êrh 二,兒(儿)
ɑ yang/-iang car
ɛ yan/-ian yen/-ien ㄧㄢ set
yuan/-üan ㄩㄢ
e ye/-ie, yue/-üe eh 也,月 hey
ə en,[d] eng ên, êng ㄣ,ㄥ 本,冷 atop
ɚ er êrh 二,兒(儿) fern[e]
ɤ e ê / o[f] between boot and but
i yi/-i city
o wo/-uo[g]/-ou o[h] go, but without lip rounding
ɻ̩ zhi, chi, shi, ri ih [i] 之,吃,師(师),日 Below, but with tongue curled or pulled back[j]
ɹ̩ zi, ci, si ŭ 子,次,私 roses, cousin
u wu/-u cool
ʊ -ong -ung ㄨㄥ,ㄩㄥ 冬,用 book
y yu/-ü[c] yü/-ü beet, but with the lips rounded as for boot
Diphthongs
ai time
ao cow
ei[d] face
ou[d] 歐(欧) show
Tones
IPA Pinyin Wade–Giles Bopomofo Chinese example Tone number Description
á ā a1 巴/bā tone 1 high level [˥]
ǎ á a2 ㄚˊ 拔/bá tone 2 mid rising [˧˥]
à ǎ a3 ㄚˇ 把/bǎ tone 3 medially, low [˩]; initially, mid falling [˧˩]; finally, low rising [˩˧]; in isolation, dipping [˧˩˧]
â à a4 ㄚˋ 爸/bà tone 4 high falling [˥˩]
a a a0 ˙ㄚ 吧/ba tone 0 or 5
(toneless)
mid [˧] after all tones but 4, where it is low [˩]
Note: Pinyin uses three of the same diacritics as IPA but with different values.


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