Pinyin Converter

What is pinyin?

Hanyu Pinyin is the official romanisation system for Standard Mandarin, used across mainland China to spell out the sound of every Chinese character with the Latin alphabet plus tone marks. It is the first thing most learners study, because it tells you exactly how a character is pronounced — something the characters themselves do not. This converter reads each character (including polyphonic characters whose reading changes by context) and outputs accurate pinyin with the tone placed on the correct vowel.

The four tones of Mandarin

Mandarin is a tonal language: the same syllable carries different meanings depending on its tone. The classic example is ma:

How to use this converter

Type or paste Chinese into the box above and the pinyin appears instantly. Use the toggle to switch between tone marks (nǐ hǎo) — best for reading and printing — and tone numbers (ni3 hao3), which are easier to type on a normal keyboard. Press Copy to drop the result into your notes, flashcards, subtitles or documents. Everything runs in your browser, so your text is never uploaded.

Where the tone mark goes

Pinyin places the tone mark on a single vowel by a fixed rule: an a or e always takes it; in ou it goes on the o; otherwise it lands on the last vowel. So it is hǎo, not haǒ, and xiè, not xìe. The converter handles this automatically.