Latin letters are used. Most them have pronunciations quite close to the sounds they have in English words:
| Pinyin | Pronunciation | Chinese example | English meaning |
| a | “a” as in car | kàn 看 | to look |
| b | “b” as in baby | bóbo 伯伯 | older brother |
| ch | “ch” as in change | chuānghù 窗户 | window |
| d | “d” as in dad | dà 大 | large |
| f | “f” as in fat | fēn 分 | cent |
| g | “g” as in game | gāo 高 | high |
| j | “j” as in jeep | jiàn 见 | to see |
| k | “k” as in kettle | kāi 开 | to open |
| l | “l” as in long | lóu 楼 | building, floor |
| m | “m” as in mail | māma 妈妈 | mother |
| n | “n” as in not | nín 您 | you (polite) |
| p | “p” as in pint | péngyǒu 朋友 | friend |
| s | “s” as in some | sì 四 | four |
| sh | “sh” as in shop | shénme 什么 | What? |
| t | “t” as in tune | dìtiě 地铁 | subway |
| w | “w” as in wife | wèi 胃 | stomach |
| y | “y” as in yes | yào 要 | to want |
The following Hanyu Pinyin letters have pronunciations which can be slightly different from the standard English pronunciations:
| e | “uh” as in duh, voiced in the back of the throat (In some vowel combinations and syllables ending in consonants, it is pronounced “e” as in bed.) |
| h | “h” as in hotel (some speakers strongly stress the h so that it sounds almost like a Scottish “ch,” as in loch) |
| i | usually pronounced as a long “ee” as in feet (However, after the consonants c, ch, r, s, sh, z, and zh the i is not pronounced as “ee,” but indicates that the consonant should be drawn out with no vowel after it.) |
| o | long “o” as in owe (except after the consonants b, f, m, and p it is pronounced as uo [“oo-uh”].) The word wo 我 [I] takes this same pronunciation: It should be pronounced “woo-uh.”) |
| r | “r” as in rain (Although some northern Chinese speakers pronounce the r at the beginning of a syllable in a more guttural way, almost like zh. At the end of a syllable, r is pronounced as in the “r” in the American pronunciation of start.) |
| u | “oo” as in boot or root |
| ü | “ü” as in German or French (purse your lips while making an “eu” sound.) |
The following Hanyu Pinyin letters are pronounced totally different than in English and so you need to pay special attention to these:
| c | “ts” as in cats |
| q | “ch” as in cheese (spoken with a wide cheeks like you are making an “ee” sound) |
| x | “she” as in she (The sound is closer to a drawn out “s” followed by an “ee,” rather than a simple “sh”.) |
| z | “ds” as in sands |
| zh | a cross between “ch” and “j” (no English equivalent) |
Most vowel and consonant combinations flow naturally from the pronunciations given above. However, be careful of the following:
| ei | “ey” as in hey |
| er | as the English word are; sometimes as err |
| ian | like the word yen, with an unstressed “y” |
| iu | pronounced as iou (e.g., liù 六 [six] should be pronounced Leo as in Leo the Lion, but without stressing the “e”) |
| ou | “o” as in so |
| ui | pronounced as uei (e.g., duì 对 [right, yes] should be pronounced “doo-ey,” and shuǐ 水[water] as “shoo-ey”) |
| uo | “oo-uh” |
| ye | “ye” as in yesterday |
| yi | “ee” as in feet (the y is not pronounced) |
While to a native English speaker, the Pinyin letters ch and q, sh and x, and zh and j may sound identical, native Chinese speakers can hear distinct differences in pronunciation. You should closely listen to the audio to master the differences in these sounds.
Finally, in northern China, it is common to add a guttural /r/ at the end of nouns (to pronounce this sound, imagine a pirate saying “Argh!”). To show this in Pinyin, an “r” is added to the end of a syllable; in Hànzì the
