Pinyin Tone Converter
Type pinyin with tone numbers — ni3 hao3, lv4 — and get the tone marks, nǐ hǎo and lǜ, each on the vowel the standard rule picks. Paste pinyin that already has marks to get the numbers back, and copy a version without tones for a reference list. It all runs in your browser. Free, no sign-up.
Put each tone number after its syllable (ni3 hao3). Type ü as v, u: or ü, and give the neutral tone 5, 0 or no number. Pinyin that already has tone marks works too.
Converted
Tone marks
Standard pinyin, as dictionaries and textbooks print it.
Wǒmen zài Xī'ān hē lǜchá ba.
Tone numbers
For flashcard apps, spreadsheets and keyboards without tone marks.
Wo3men5 zai4 Xi1an1 he1 lv4cha2 ba5.
No tone marks
How reference lists and library catalogs write pinyin.
Women zai Xi'an he lücha ba.
Where each tone mark went
| Syllable | With its mark | Why |
|---|---|---|
| wo3 | wǒ | the only vowel takes it |
| zai4 | zài | a takes the mark |
| xi1 | xī | the only vowel takes it |
| an1 | ān | a takes the mark |
| he1 | hē | e takes the mark |
| lv4 | lǜ | the only vowel takes it |
| cha2 | chá | a takes the mark |
Tone-marked vowels
| Vowel | 1st tone | 2nd tone | 3rd tone | 4th tone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | ā Ā | á Á | ǎ Ǎ | à À |
| e | ē Ē | é É | ě Ě | è È |
| i | ī Ī | í Í | ǐ Ǐ | ì Ì |
| o | ō Ō | ó Ó | ǒ Ǒ | ò Ò |
| u | ū Ū | ú Ú | ǔ Ǔ | ù Ù |
| ü | ǖ Ǖ | ǘ Ǘ | ǚ Ǚ | ǜ Ǜ |
Small and capital letters, ready to copy. The neutral tone has no mark.
How to Use the Pinyin Tone Converter
- 1. Type or paste the pinyin. Put each tone number after its syllable: Zhong1guo2, ni3 hao3. Type ü as v, u: or ü (lv4, lu:4 and lü4 all give lǜ), and give the neutral tone 5, 0 or no number. Pinyin with tone marks works too.
- 2. Copy the form you need. Tone marks is pinyin as dictionaries print it, Tone numbers suits flashcard apps, and No tone marks is how reference lists and library catalogs write it.
- 3. Set the options. Pick 5, 0 or nothing for the neutral tone, and how ü is spelled in the numbered and toneless forms — including yu, the spelling on Chinese passports.
- 4. Check the working. The table under the results shows which vowel took each mark and why. Anything that isn't pinyin is left exactly as you typed it, and a toned word the converter cannot read, such as hao6, is listed.
Where the Tone Mark Goes
The Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet (汉语拼音方案, 1958) puts the tone mark on a syllable's main vowel and leaves the neutral tone unmarked: mā, má, mǎ, mà, ma. GB/T 16159-2012, the national orthography standard, adds that iu and ui take the mark on the second letter, and that a mark on i replaces its dot. Three checks, made in order, find the vowel:
| Check | Rule | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | An a or an e takes the mark | hǎo, xiè, guāng, lüè |
| 2 | Otherwise, the o of ou takes it | dōu, yǒu, zhōu |
| 3 | Otherwise, the last vowel takes it | liú, guì, duō, xióng, lǜ |
Every example is the converter's own output: hao3 gives hǎo, lve4 gives lüè, xiong2 gives xióng.
Capitals carry the mark too: Ou1yang2 becomes Ōuyáng. A mark typed on the wrong vowel is moved (lǐu becomes liǔ), a breve typed in place of the third-tone caron is accepted (hăo becomes hǎo), and the rare syllables with no vowel take the mark on the nasal (ng2 becomes ńg).
ü, v and u:
Numbered pinyin types ü as v or u:, and the converter reads both. It follows the scheme's spelling: ü keeps its dots after n and l, where nu and lu are different syllables (nǔ 努, nǚ 女), and drops them after j, q, x and y, so xv3 is xǔ. The misspellings lue and nue are read as lüe and nüe: lue4 is lüè.
Apostrophes between syllables
Inside a word, a syllable beginning with a, o or e is set off by an apostrophe wherever the boundary could be misread: Xī'ān (西安) is two syllables, xiān (先) is one, and the scheme's own example is pí'ǎo (皮袄). Tone numbers already mark the boundary, so the converter adds the apostrophe when it writes tone marks or plain pinyin, before every joined syllable starting with a, o or e: Xi1an1 becomes Xī'ān and nv3er2 becomes nǚ'ér.
The convention also settles where joined syllables split. Without an apostrophe, the converter avoids starting a syllable with a, o or e, so fāngàn reads as fān + gàn (fan1gan4); for 方案, type fāng'àn or fang1an4.
Pinyin in Citations and Library Catalogs
Reference lists romanize Chinese names and titles in pinyin and normally leave the tone marks out: Lu Xun, not Lǔ Xùn. Library catalogs set the pattern. The Library of Congress's ALA-LC Chinese Romanization Table (2012) follows the official scheme closely, except that its guidelines "do not include the indication of tone marks". Use the No tone marks result for citations.
- Names joined, titles split. ALA-LC joins the syllables of a personal or place name (Ouyang Xiu, Sima Xiangru, Guangzhou Shi) but writes the rest of a title syllable by syllable: 明清小说比较研究 is Ming Qing xiao shuo bi jiao yan jiu.
- Apostrophes only where needed. ALA-LC adds one "in cases of ambiguity": Chang’an, so that it is not read as Changan. The converter adds one before every joined syllable starting with a, o or e, which can be more than a catalog record shows.
- ü keeps its dots. The table writes lü, lüe, nü and nüe, so the surname 吕 is Lü. Chinese passports print it LYU: exit-entry documents write ü as YU in LÜ and NÜ and as U in LÜE and NÜE (National Immigration Administration, 2021). Lu and Lv also turn up in print.
Whatever the form, cite each author as the work you used spells the name; writers from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore often use other romanizations. How to Cite a Source in Another Language covers the family-name-first order and the bracketed English translation of a Chinese title.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I type pinyin tone marks?
- Type each syllable with its tone number and copy the result: ma1 ma2 ma3 ma4 gives mā má mǎ mà. For a single character, copy it from the Tone-marked vowels table under the converter, which has every marked vowel in small and capital letters.
- What do the tone numbers 1–5 mean in pinyin?
- 1 is the high, level first tone (ā), 2 the rising second tone (á), 3 the low, dipping third tone (ǎ) and 4 the falling fourth tone (à). 5 — or 0, or no number at all — is the neutral tone, a light syllable that takes no mark: ma1ma5 is māma.
- Which vowel gets the tone mark in iu and ui?
- The second one: liú, jiǔ, guì, shuǐ. GB/T 16159-2012 states this as a rule of its own, and the general rule agrees: neither syllable has an a, an e or ou, so the last vowel takes the mark.
- Why is 你好 written nǐ hǎo when it is pronounced ní hǎo?
- Pinyin writes each syllable's own tone, not the change it undergoes in speech: a third tone before another third tone is said as a second but is still written with the third-tone mark. GB/T 16159-2012 also writes 一 and 不 with their original tones (yī, bù), though teaching materials may mark the spoken tone (yì tiān, bú duì). The converter writes the tone you type.
- Should I keep tone marks in a reference list?
- Usually not. Reference lists give Chinese names and titles in plain pinyin, the form library catalogs use, so readers can search for them. Keep tone marks only where your style guide, instructor or journal asks for them, and then use them for every Chinese name and title in the list.
- Can the converter read pinyin typed without spaces?
- Yes. Zhong1guo2ren2 becomes Zhōngguórén, and Zhōngguó converts back to Zhong1guo2: joined letters are split against a list of every standard Mandarin syllable, erhua forms such as huār (hua1r or huar1) included. Where the letters allow two splits, the apostrophe convention above decides.
- Does it convert Wade–Giles?
- No, only Hanyu Pinyin. Wade–Giles, the older system that marks aspiration with an apostrophe (Ch’ing for Qing, Mao Tse-tung for Mao Zedong), was the Library of Congress standard until it switched to pinyin in 2000, and its Chinese table lists Wade–Giles and pinyin equivalents for older records. Cite a Wade–Giles name as the work prints it.