Pinyin Converter

Mandarin has four tones plus a neutral tone. Each tone changes a syllable's meaning entirely. This converter color-codes every syllable so you can see tonal patterns at a glance.

In natural speech, certain characters change their tone depending on what follows. This converter automatically applies sandhi rules for 不 (bù) and 一 (yī) — the two most common cases — so the pinyin you see matches how the words are actually pronounced.

For example, 不是 appears as búshì rather than bùshì, because 不 shifts to second tone before a fourth-tone syllable.

Chinese text has no spaces between words, which makes reading difficult for learners. The Reading Aid view groups characters into words using a dictionary of 19,000+ compound entries, showing you where one word ends and the next begins — with English definitions underneath.

Pinyin is the standard romanization system for Mandarin Chinese and the first step most learners take. This tool helps bridge the gap between reading characters and understanding pronunciation — but real fluency comes from guided practice with a teacher.

Learn more in our complete guide: What is Pinyin?