Pinyin spelling rules

Pinyin is the Romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese, using Latin letters to represent sounds. Each Pinyin syllable consists of an initial consonant followed by a vowel sound, with tones indicated by diacritics. There are four main tones plus a neutral tone. Some spelling rules include: “u” is written as “ü” after “j”, “q”, and “x”; “i” is used instead of “y” after “j”, “q”, and “x”; and certain initials like “b”, “p”, “m”, and “f” are aspirated. Understanding these patterns helps with pronunciation and distinguishes meanings between similar-sounding words.