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Pinyin • Combination Charts

Pinyin Chart 2: D · T · N · L Initials

A pinyin syllable is made of two parts: an initial (the opening consonant) and a final (the vowel sound that follows). This chart shows all valid combinations for the alveolar initials d, t, n, l. Note that n and l can also take the ü final (written with an umlaut).

Red cells are valid combinations shown in 1st tone. Grey cells are not valid in standard Mandarin.

Initialaoe-iiuüaieiaoouanenangengongiaiaoieiouianiniangingionguauouaiueiuanunuanguengüeüanün
d-···dāidēidāodōudāndēndāngdēngdōng·diāodiē·diān··dīng··duō·duīduāndūn·····
t-···tāi·tāotōutān·tāngtēngtōng·tiāotiē·tiān··tīng··tuō·tuītuāntūn·····
n-··nāinēināonōunānnēnnāngnēng··niāoniēniūniānnīn·nīng·····nuān···nüē··
l-··lāilēilāolōulān·lānglēng·liāliāoliēliūliānlīnliānglīng··luō··luānlūn··lüē··

All syllables shown in 1st tone. In speech, the same syllable occurs in all four tones: e.g. dā dá dǎ dà.

All Pinyin Combination Charts

Chart 1 — B P M FChart 2 — D T N LChart 3 — G K H · J Q XChart 4 — ZH CH SH R · Z C S · Zero
Detailed tone guide (ā á ǎ à) →