Free tool
Pinyin with tone changes
Updated
Type a Chinese sentence and see how it is really said. You get the spoken pinyin above each character and the textbook pinyin below it.
Type a sentence
Nothing changes in this sentence.
What changed and why
- 不 is bù, but in the middle of 听不懂 it becomes bu: short and soft, with no tone mark.
- 一 is yī, but before a first, second or third tone it becomes yì. 点 is a third tone.
What are tone changes?
A tone change is when a syllable is said with a different tone from the one in the dictionary. It happens because of the syllable that comes next.
For example, 不 (not) becomes bú in 不要 (don’t want). In 你好 (hello), 你 becomes ní.
Native speakers make these changes all the time, without thinking. The linguistic name for them is tone sandhi.
Pinyin marks the four tones like this: mā (first), má (second), mǎ (third), mà (fourth). A syllable with no mark is short and soft.
Why is textbook pinyin different from what you hear?
Textbooks and dictionaries write the tone each character has on its own. They do not write the changes. So in a textbook, 不 is always bù and 一 is always yī.
You learn the changes as rules and make them yourself when you read aloud. Some books write the changes for 不 and 一, but not the others.
This tool shows both. The top line is what people say. The bottom line is what a textbook writes.
Common changes
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不 becomes bú before a fourth tone.
bú不bùyào要yàolà辣làNo spicy
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不 becomes a short, soft bu in the middle of a phrase.
tīng听tīngbu不bùdǒng懂dǒngDon't understand
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一 becomes yí before a fourth tone.
děng等děngyí一yīxià下xiàWait a moment…
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一 becomes yì before a first, second or third tone.
yì一yībēi杯bēihóng红hóngchá茶cháA cup of black tea
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When two third tones come together in a word, the first one becomes a second tone.
ní你nǐhǎo好hǎoHello!
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In many words the last syllable is short and soft, with no tone mark.
xiè谢xièxie谢xièThank you
How the tool writes pinyin
- Changes for 不 and 一 are always written, even across two words, as in 不是 (is not).
- Two third tones change only inside one word. In 我也是 (me too), 我 and 也 are separate words, so both keep their third tone. In fast speech, 我 often changes too.
- Short, soft syllables are written the way they sound in everyday standard Mandarin. Some speakers in the south of China give a few of them a full tone.
- 儿 at the end of a word adds an r to the sound before it, as in 哪儿 (where). The tool writes the r over the 儿.
Where the tool can be wrong
Characters with two readings
The tool can pick the wrong reading for a character that has two. 行 is xíng (OK) or háng (a row). 长 is cháng (long) or zhǎng (to grow). The tool chooses from the words around it.
Where a word ends
The tool can split a sentence into words differently from you. Two third tones change only inside one word, so a different split gives a different result. Names of people and places are the usual problem.
Short, soft syllables
The tool can miss a short, soft syllable in a rare word. It knows a list of common words and a few patterns, such as 子 at the end of a noun.
Traditional characters
The tool is made for simplified characters. It reads common traditional ones such as 們 and 這, but can miss things in rarer ones.
Numbers
Numbers written as digits, like 110, get no pinyin. In numbers written in characters, 一 is yī in 十一 (eleven) and 第一 (first), and yāo in phone and room numbers.
The tool gets about 99.5% of syllables right. We checked it on 1,809 lines from the game with hand-checked pinyin (99.5%) and on 40 new everyday sentences (99.4%). The two mistakes in the new sentences were 有空 (free), where 空 should be kòng, and 清楚 (clear), where 楚 should be short and soft.
Questions
What is tone sandhi in Chinese?
Tone sandhi means a syllable changes its tone because of the syllable after it. In Mandarin the common cases are: 不 becomes bú before a fourth tone; 一 becomes yí before a fourth tone and yì before the other tones; and when two third tones come together, the first becomes a second tone, so 你好 is said ní hǎo.
How do you pronounce 不要?
不要 (don’t want) is pronounced bú yào. 不 is bù on its own, but 要 is a fourth tone, and before a fourth tone 不 becomes bú.
Why is 你好 said ní hǎo?
你好 is said ní hǎo because 你 and 好 are both third tones. When two third tones come together in a word, the first becomes a second tone. Dictionaries still write nǐ hǎo, because they show each character’s own tone.
How many ways can 一 be pronounced?
一 (one) has four common pronunciations: yī, yí, yì and yāo. It is yī when you count. It becomes yí before a fourth tone: 一个 is yí ge. It becomes yì before the other tones: 一杯 is yì bēi. In phone and room numbers it is yāo.
Does normal pinyin show tone changes?
No. Most dictionaries and textbooks write each character’s own tone, not the tone that is said. Some textbooks write the changes for 不 and 一 only. This tool shows both: the spoken pinyin above each character and the textbook pinyin below.
Is the tool free, and is my text sent anywhere?
Yes, the tool is free and needs no account. It runs in your browser, so your text is not sent to a server. The first time you use it, your browser downloads the pinyin dictionary once.
How accurate is the tool?
The tool gets about 99.5% of syllables right. On 1,809 lines from the game with hand-checked pinyin it matched 99.5%, and on 40 new everyday sentences it matched 99.4%. Most mistakes come from characters with two readings.