Pinyin

Gwoyeu Romatzyh

This page gives charts of the basic spelling conventions used for writing Mandarin Chinese according to the Gwoyeu Romatzyh romanization system, which features tonal spellings.

Initials in Gwoyeu Romatzyh

place	manner
	unaspirated stops	aspirated stops	nasals	fricatives	voiced continuants
labials	b	p	m	f
dentals	d	t	n		l
dental sibilants	tz	ts		s
retroflexes	jr	chr		shr	r
palatals	ji	chi		shi
gutturals	g	k	(ng)	h	Ø

Finals in Gwoyeu Romatzyh

medial	ending
	open ending			-i		-u		-n		-ng			-l
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
row-a	y	a	e	ai	ei	au	ou	an	en	ang	eng	ong	el
row-i	i	ia	ie	iai		iau	iou	ian	in	iang	ing	iong
row-u	u	ua	uo	uai	uei			uan	uen	uang	ueng
row-iu	iu		iue					iuan	iun

Rules for Tonal Spellings

1st tone:

• Use basic form: 他 ta, 說 shuo, 天 tian, 高 gau.

2nd tone:

• Add r after vowel for Row-a finals: 茶 char, 何 her, 才 tsair, 陳 chern.
• In Row-i, Row-u, and Row-iu, change the medials i, u, ui into y, w, yu, respectively: 祥 shyang, 滑 hwa, 情 chyng, 圓 yuan. Note, however, that as complete finals, i is changed into yi (not y!) and u into wu (not w!): 旗 chyi, 胡 hwu, 夷 yi, 吾 wu.

3rd tone:

• Single vowel letters, as well as e next to i (i.e., in ei and ie) and o next to u (i.e., in ou and uo), are doubled: 幾 jyy, 打 daa, 請 chiing, 给 geei, 姐 jiee, 手 shoou, 火 huoo.
• Change the medial or ending i, u, iu into e, o, eu, respectively: 滾 goen, 買 mae, 好 hao. But if the medial is changed, the ending is left unchanged: 小 sheau (not sheao or shiao), 拐 goai (not goae or guae).

4th tone:

• Change ending zero, -i, -u, -n, -ng, -l into -h, -y, -w, -nn, -nq, -ll, respectively: 住 juh, 賣 may, 夠 gow, 慢 mann, 上 shanq, 二 ell.

Supplementary rules:

• Insert h after m, n, l, r for the 1st tone: 媽 mha, 捏 nhie, 拉 lha, 扔 rheng, but use the basic form for the 2nd Tone, as 麻 ma, 年 nian, 來 lai, 人 ren.
• In finals in Row-i, Row-u, and Row-iu with zero initial, add the letter y-, w-, y-, respectively, for the 3rd Tone: 有 yeou (cf. 酒 jeou), 碗 woan (cf. goan). But the final -iee is changed into yee (not yiee), and -uoo into woo (not wuoo).
• In the same finals with zero initial for the 4th Tone, change i-, u-, iu- into y-, w-, yu-, respectively: 要 (cf. 叫 jiaw), 問 wenn (cf. 睏 kuenn). But add y or w to the four finals -ih, -uh, -inn, -inq to form 意 yih, 霧 wuh, 印 yinn, 硬 yinq.

Gwoyeu Romatzyh finals in all tones

row	tone	ending
		zero			-i		-u		-n		-ng			-l
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
a	1	y	a	e	ai	ei	au	ou	an	en	ang	eng	ong	el
	2	yr	ar	er	air	eir	aur	our	arn	ern	arng	erng	orng	erl
	3	yy	aa	ee	ae	eei	ao	oou	aan	een	aang	eeng	oong	eel
	4	yh	ah	eh	ay	ey	aw	ow	ann	enn	anq	enq	onq	ell
i	1	i	ia	oe	(yai)		iau	iou	ian	in	iang	ing	iong
	2	yi	ya	ye			yau	you	yan	yn	yang	yng	yong
	-3	ii	ea	iee			eau	eou	ean	iin	eang	iing	eong
	-4	ih	iah	ieh			iaw	iow	iann	inn	ianq	inq	ionq
	3	yii	yea	yee			yeau	yeou	yean	yiin	yeang	yiing	yeong
	4	yih	yah	yeh			yaw	yow	yann	yinn	yanq	yinq	yonq
u	1	u	ua	uo	uai	uei			an	en	ang	ueng
	2	wu	wa	wo	wai	wei			arn	ern	arng
	-3	uu	oa	uoo	oai	oei			aan	een	aang
	-4	uh	uah	uoh	uay	uey			ann	enn	anq
	3	wuu	woa	woo	woai	woei			woan	woen	woang	(woeng)
	4	wuh	wah	who	way	wey			wann	wenn	wanq	wenq
iu	1	iu		ieu					iuan	iun
	2	yu		yue					yuan	yun
	-3	eu		eue					euan	eun
	-4	iuh		iueh					iuann	iunn
	3	yeu							yeuan	yeun
	4	yuh		yueh					yuann	yunn

• Rows headed by "-3" and "-4" are finals used only when the initial is not zero.
• In Row-u, column 3, there is a special form for labial initials, namely, 波 bo, 坡 po, 模 mho, 脖 bor, 婆 por, 摩 mo, 佛 for, etc. This is only graphical, and the actual pronunciation is still buo, puo, and so on.
• Forms in parentheses are rare
• Blank spaces are for possible finals not represented by actual morphemes.
• Column 13 gives only single morphemes.

Retroflex Finals

	tone	ending
		zero			-i		-u		-n		-ng
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
a	1	el	al	e'l	al	el	aul	oul	al	el	angl	engl	ongl
	2	erl	arl	er'l	arl	erl	aurl	ourl	arl	erl	arngl	erngl	orngl
	3	eel	aal	ee'l	aal	eel	aol	ooul	aal	eel	aangl	eengl	oongl
	4	ell	all	ehl	all	ell	awl	owl	all	ell	anql	enql	onql
i	1	iel	ial	ie'l			iaul	ioul	ial	iel	iangl	iengl	iongl
	2	yel	yal	ye'l	yal		yaul	youl	yal	yel	yangl	yengl	yongl
	-3	ieel	eal	ieel			eaul	eoul	eal	ieel	eangl	ieengl	eongl
	-4	iell	iall	iell			iawl	iowl	iall	iell	ianql	ienql	ionql
	3	yeel	yeal	yeel			yeaul	yeoul	yeal	yeel	yeangl	yeengl	yeongl
	4	yell	yall	yell			yawl	yowl	yall	yell	yanql	yenql	yonql
u	1	ul	ual	uol	uai	uei			ual	uel	uangl	uengl
	2	wul	wal	wol	wal	wel			wal	wel	wangl
	-3	uul	oal	uool	oal	oel			oal	oel	oangl
	-4	ull	uall	uoll	uall	uell			uall	uell	uanql
	3	wuul	woal	wool	woal	woel			woal	woel	woangl	woengl
	4	wull	wall	woll	wall	well			wall	well	wanql	wenql
iu	1	iuel		iue'l					iual	iuel
	2	yuel		yue'l					yual	yuel
	-3	euel		euel					eual	euel
	-4	iuell		iuell					iuall	iuell
	3	yeuel							yeual	yeuel
	4	yuell		yuell					yuall	yuell

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