Pinyin Tone Marks: Where They Go and How to Type Ü

The tone mark goes on one vowel in each syllable, and a short rule tells you which one. Take the vowels in order: a, then e, then o. If none of those is present, mark the second vowel in iu and ui (the last one written), or the only vowel in the syllable. Examples: 好 hǎo, 美 měi, 狗 gǒu, 六 liù, 對 duì. To type ü, use the letter v in a pinyin input method.

The full syllable list is on the pinyin chart, which shows every syllable with its four tones.

The placement rules

1. Mark a or e first

When a syllable contains a, the mark goes on the a: hǎo (好), kāi (開), lán (藍), xiǎng (想). When it contains e, the mark goes on the e: měi (美), xiě (寫), lěng (冷). The two never occur together in a syllable, so there is no conflict.

2. In ou and uo, mark the o

The finals containing o with another vowel follow the same idea: gǒu (狗), zhōu (週), shǒu (手). The same holds for uo: guó (國), duō (多), shuō (說), and for a syllable like 偷 tōu.

3. In iu and ui, mark the second vowel

Here the first rule has nothing to say, so pinyin marks the vowel written last: liú (流), jiǔ (九), duì (對), guì (貴). The written rule is simple: the mark goes on the second of the two vowels.

4. A lone vowel takes the mark

Syllables with one vowel are easy: mā (媽), nǐ (你), tǔ (土), wǔ (五). When the vowel is i, the tone mark replaces the dot: write nǐ, with no dot above the i.

Quick reference

Combination	Where the mark goes	Example
a present	on a	hǎo, lán, xiàng
e present (no a)	on e	měi, lěng, xiě
ou, uo	on o	gǒu, zhōu, guó, duō
iu	on u	liú, jiǔ
ui	on i	duì, guì
single vowel	on that vowel	mā, nǐ, tǔ
ie, ue, üe	on e	xiě, yuè, lüè

The last row follows from rule 1: e outranks i, u and ü.

Ü and the spelling rule

Pinyin writes ü with two dots when it needs to, and as plain u when the dots would be redundant.

• After n and l, both u and ü occur and are different words, so the dots are kept: 女 nǚ (ㄋㄩˇ) against 努 nǔ (ㄋㄨˇ), 綠 lǜ (ㄌㄩˋ) against 路 lù (ㄌㄨˋ).
• After j, q, x and y, only ü is possible, so the dots are dropped: 去 qù (ㄑㄩˋ), 學 xué (ㄒㄩㄝˊ), 魚 yú (ㄩˊ), 軍 jūn (ㄐㄩㄣ). All of these are pronounced with ü even though they look like u.

When ü carries a tone mark, the mark sits above the dots: nǚ, lǘ, lǜ, and lüè with the mark on the e. Zhuyin avoids the whole issue by writing ㄩ in every case.

Typing ü

On any pinyin input method, type v for ü. To get 女, type nv and choose the character. To get 綠, type lv. You do not type anything special for ju, qu, xu or yu: type them as written. This is a long-standing convention, because most keyboards have no ü key.

Typing tone marks

There are two different jobs here, and they need different tools.

Typing Chinese characters does not need tone marks. A pinyin input method lets you type ni hao and pick 你好. For that, see the desktop typing guide.

Typing marked pinyin itself, such as nǐ hǎo in a note or a spreadsheet, needs a keyboard or tool that produces the accented letters. The methods below are described by third-party guides, and the exact steps change between operating-system versions, so check the settings on your device.

• Mac: add the ABC - Extended keyboard (sometimes called U.S. Extended) in the keyboard settings. It lets you type accented vowels, including the caron used for the third tone. The usual combinations are Option-a then a vowel for ā, Option-e then a vowel for á, Option-v then a vowel for ǎ, and Option-` then a vowel for à. Test them on your own Mac, since the exact behaviour can vary by system version.
• Windows: there is no built-in layout for pinyin tone marks. Copy marked pinyin from a dictionary, type tone numbers, or install a third-party layout.
• iPhone and Android: the standard keyboards do not have a key for ǎ, and long-pressing a vowel does not show every tone. Many learners type the syllable with a tone number and let an app such as a dictionary or flashcard tool convert it, or use a dedicated pinyin-tone keyboard app.

The tone-number method is portable: nǐ hǎo becomes ni3 hao3, and many tools accept it.

If you use Zhuyin, there is nothing extra to install. Zhuyin keyboards include the tone marks, and the system writes them differently: the first tone is unmarked and the neutral tone has a dot before the syllable. See Zhuyin tone marks for how that works.

Common mistakes

• Marking the wrong vowel in iu and ui. It is liú and duì, not líu or dúi.
• Keeping the dot on i. The tone mark replaces it.
• Writing nu for 女. After n and l, the dots matter: nǚ is woman, nǔ is to strive.
• Adding dots after j, q, x, y. It is qù, not qǜ.
• Marking a neutral-tone syllable. There is no mark: 吧 is ba.

Zhong lets you choose Pinyin or Zhuyin for each course, so you can follow the notation you are learning with the same audio.

Related reading

• Pinyin chart with Taiwan audio
• Zhuyin tone marks
• What is pinyin?
• How to pronounce j, q, x and ü