Chinese Alphabet

Salim 2005 © Linguanaut.com

 

You will learn here:

 

Chinese Alphabet, Letters, Chinese Vowels, Consonants, Chinese Pronunciation, Characters, How to write in Chinese, Chinese Calligraphy.

 

There is no Chinese alphabet in the sense we understand it in the West. Chinese characters are not letters (with some exceptions), Chinese characters represent an idea, a concept or an object. While in the west each of the letters of our alphabet represents a sound that generally has no particular meaning.

In modern Chinese there is a set of more than 400 syllables, made of two elements: an initial, the sheng and a final the yun. The first part, the sheng is the consonant that begins a syllable. The sheng is followed by a yun that is usually a vowel. The Chinese computerized fonts for words processor include 6500 characters for the simplified form.

These are different Chinese symbols:

 

Chinese Phonetics

 

Pinyin is a Chinese system for transliterating Mandarin Chinese into 25 European characters (the letter “v” is not included).

 

In Chinese, each character corresponds to one syllable (which corresponds to a part of an English word, and entire word or more than one word). Chinese syllables consist of three elements: initial sound, final sound and tone. The initial sounds are consonants and the final sounds contain at least one vowel. Some syllables consist only of an initial sound or a final sound.

Note that  "c", "ch", "j", "q", "r", "sh", "x", "z" and "zh" are spelt differently.

 

In Chinese (Mandarin) there are 21 initial sounds: b, c, ch, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, sh, t, x, z, zh

In Chinese (Mandarin) there are 35 final sounds:

6 simple finals: a, e, i, o, u, ü

13 compound finals: ai, ao, ei, ia, iao, ie, iou, ou, ua, uai, üe, uei, uo

16 nasal finals: 8 front nasals: an, en, ian, in, uan, üan, uen, ün

                       8 back nasals: ang, eng, iang, ing, iong, ong, uang, ueng

Additional syllables in Mandarin Chinese: 5 special cases: er, hm, hng, ng, ~r

 

The initial and final sounds make a total of 56 basic sounds. Combinations of initials and finals plus the special cases result in 411 possible combinations. Applying the four tones of Mandarin Chinese to this, we get a total of around 1,600 unique syllables.

 

Tones in Chinese (Mandarin)

In Chinese (Mandarin) there are four tones:

• The 1st tone is marked with a line ("a" + "^-" = "ā"). This is a high, even and constant tone.
• The 2nd tone is marked with a rising line ("a" + "´" = "á"). This is a rising tone that grows stronger.
• The 3rd tone is marked with a hook ("a" + "^v" = "ă"). This tone is first falling and fading, then rising and growing strong.
• The 4th tone is marked with a falling line ("a" + "`" = "à"). This is a quickly falling and fading tone.
• Tone markings are written over the central vowels in most syllables. Some syllables have no specific tone, and then no sign is put above any vowel.

In Chinese it is always very important to pronounce words with correct tone. In transliterated Chinese.

 

All Possible Syllables in Chinese (Mandarin)

1. a, ai, an, ang, ao
2. ba, bai, ban, bang, bao, bei, ben, beng, bi, bian, biao, bie, bin, bing, bo, bu
3. ca, cai, can, cang, cao, ce, cei, cen, ceng, cha, chai, chan, chang, chao, che, chen, cheng, chi, chong, chou, chu, chua, chuai, chuan, chuang, chui, chun, chuo, ci, cong, cou, cu, cuan, cui, cun, cuo
4. da, dai, dan, dang, dao, de, dei, den, deng, di, dian, diao, die, ding, diu, dong, dou, du, duan, dui, dun, duo
5. e, ê, ei, en, er
6. fa, fan, fang, fei, fen, feng, fo, fou, fu
7. ga, gai, gan, gang, gao, ge, gei, gen, geng, gong, gou, gu, gua, guai, guan, guang, gui, gun, guo
8. ha, hai, han, hang, hao, he, hei, hen, heng, hm, hng, hong, hou, hu, hua, huai, huan, huang, hui, hun, huo
9. ji, jia, jian, jiang, jiao, jie, jin, jing, jiong, jiu, ju, juan, jue, jun
10. ka, kai, kan, kang, kao, ke, kei, ken, keng, kong, kou, ku, kua, kuai, kuan, kuang, kui, kun, kuo
11. la, lai, lan, lang, lao, le, lei, leng, li, lia, lian, liang, liao, lie, lin, ling, liu, long, lou, lu, luo, luan, lun, lü, lüe
12. m, ma, mai, man, mang, mao, mei, men, meng, mi, mian, miao, mie, min, ming, miu, mo, mou, mu
13. n, na, nai, nan, nang, nao, ne, nei, nen, neng, ng, ni, nian, niao, nie, nin, ning, niu, nong, nou, nu, nuo, nuan, nü, nüe
14. o, ou
15. pa, pai, pan, pang, pao, pei, pen, peng, pi, pian, piao, pie, pin, ping, po, pou, pu
16. qi, qia, qian, qiang, qiao, qie, qin, qing, qiong, qiu, qu, quan, que, qun
17. ran, rang, rao, ren, reng, ri, rong, rou, ru, rua, ruan, rui, run, ruo
18. sa, sai, san, sang, sao, se, sei, sen, seng, sha, shai, shan, shang, shao, she, shei, shen, sheng, shi, shou, shu, shua, shuai, shuan, shuang, shui, shun, shuo, si, song, sou, su, suan, sui, sun, suo
19. ta, tai, tan, tang, tao, te, teng, ti, tian, tiao, tie, ting, tong, tou, tu, tuan, tui, tun, tuo
20. wa, wai, wan, wang, wei, wen, weng, wo, wu
21. xi, xia, xian, xiang, xiao, xie, xin, xing, xiong, xiu, xu, xuan, xue, xun
22. ya, yan, yang, yao, ye, yi, yin, ying, yong, you, yu, yuan, yue, yun
23. za, zai, zan, zang, zao, ze, zei, zen, zeng, zha, zhai, zhan, zhang, zhao, zhe, zhei, zhen, zheng, zhi, zhong, zhou, zhu, zhua, zhuai, zhuan, zhuang, zhui, zhun, zhuo, zi, zong, zou, zu, zuan, zui, zun, zuo

 

 

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