Pinyin and Tones

1.

zhōng guó
STARTER
Copy title & date: Pinyin and Tones 9月14日
Swap your exercise books with your partner. Have
a look at how they have matched the characters –
do you agree? Why/Why not? Give them your
feedback.
Extension: What do you think the following
characters mean…山 日 月
Lesson Objectives:
1. Understand what pinyin is: initials, finals &
tones
2. Be able to say & read numbers 1-5 in Chinese
中国

2.

Pīnyīn 拼音
Pinyin is similar to the English alphabet. It tells you what a
character sounds like. Most letters are read in a similar
way to English. There are few exceptions:
Pinyin
Sounds like
Example
q
ch (as in cheese)
qing= ching
x
sh (as in she)
Xing=shing
c
ts (as in cats)
Can=tsan
z
dz (as in gadzooks)
Zu=dzoo
zh
j (as in jam)
Zhang=jang

3.

The Four Tones:
Chinese is a tonal language. This means that the meaning of a
word could change completely depending on how you say it:
Tones
妈
麻
马
骂
mā
1st tone
Mum
má
2nd tone
hemp
mǎ
3rd tone
horse
mà
4th tone
scold

4.

yī
一

5.

èr
二

6.

sān
三

7.

sì
四

8.

wǔ
五

9.

3
2
4
5
1

10.

12
2
1
5
4
3

11.

五
一
二
四
三