Bidirectional Pinyin ↔ Zhuyin Bopomofo converter. ni3 hao3 ↔ ㄋㄧˇ ㄏㄠˇ. Cross-strait learning utility.
Pinyin ↔ Zhuyin Converter (拼音注音互换)
How to use
Pick direction
Pinyin → Zhuyin or Zhuyin → Pinyin.
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Pinyin accepts tone marks (nǐ hǎo) or numeric (ni3 hao3); Zhuyin includes tone marks.
Read the result
Output in the other format.
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Direct paste into flashcards, textbooks, IMEs.
How pinyin and Zhuyin convert into each other
Zhuyin (注音符號, also called bopomofo) was drawn up in 1913 and published in 1918, and Taiwan's primary schools still teach reading with it. Hanyu Pinyin was published in 1958. Both write Mandarin sounds, and every syllable has exactly one spelling in each. This tool converts syllables: you type a known pronunciation, not Chinese characters.
Pinyin → Zhuyin
Type nǐ hǎo or ni3 hao3 to get ㄋㄧˇ ㄏㄠˇ. Tone marks and numbers both work, and v stands for ü. For the neutral tone add 5 or 0 (ma5 → ˙ㄇㄚ); a syllable typed with no tone gets no tone mark.
Zhuyin → Pinyin
Type ㄋㄧˇ ㄏㄠˇ to get nǐ hǎo. The neutral-tone dot is recognised before the syllable (˙ㄇㄚ) or after it.
The syllables that need a rule
About one syllable in four cannot be converted symbol by symbol. Pinyin shortens iou, uei and uen to iu, ui and un (liu, gui, lun); it adds y or w when there is no initial (you, wei); it writes ü as u after j, q and x; and the i in zhi, chi, shi, ri, zi, ci and si has no Zhuyin symbol at all (是 is ㄕˋ). The tool applies those rules. A syllable it does not recognise is left as typed rather than guessed, and r-coloured syllables such as huar are not supported yet.
Checked syllable by syllable against Taiwan's dictionary
Both directions of this tool are checked against all 1,337 toned syllables in Taiwan's Ministry of Education dictionary, 重編國語辭典修訂本. The dictionary has two exceptions of its own: a bare-consonant entry, and seī, where it marks the i.
Without tones, the dictionary has 413 syllables. About 320 convert symbol for symbol; the other 93 need a spelling rule.
Zhuyin has 37 basic symbols: 21 initials and 16 finals. The 1958 pinyin scheme's table lists 35 finals; many textbooks count 39.
Tone marks: pinyin puts them on a vowel (nǐ). Zhuyin puts tones 2 to 4 after the last symbol, leaves tone 1 unmarked, and puts the neutral-tone dot in front (˙ㄇㄚ).
The longest pinyin syllables have six letters: chuang, shuang and zhuang. In Zhuyin each takes three symbols (ㄔㄨㄤ).
Taiwan's Executive Yuan adopted Hanyu Pinyin as its romanisation standard on 18 December 2008. Zhuyin remains how Taiwan teaches pronunciation.
Only ü, never u, can follow j, q and x, so pinyin drops the dots there (ju is ㄐㄩ). After n and l both can occur, so nü and lü keep them.
Frequently asked questions
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This tool converts syllables you already know (ni3 ↔ ㄋㄧˇ). A character converter starts from Chinese characters (你 → nǐ).
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Either: nǐ or ni3. Type 5 or 0 for the neutral tone, and v or u: for ü.
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Pinyin leaves it unmarked (or 5 or 0 as a number). Zhuyin puts a dot in front, ˙ㄇㄚ, as Taiwan's Ministry of Education writes it.
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In zhi, chi, shi, ri, zi, ci and si the i is written only so the syllable has a vowel letter; it is not the ㄧ sound, so Zhuyin writes the initial alone.
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Not yet. A syllable such as huar is left as typed; enter it as hua1 er5 instead.
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Yes, separated by spaces: ni3 hao3 shi4 jie4 → ㄋㄧˇ ㄏㄠˇ ㄕˋ ㄐㄧㄝˋ.
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No. The conversion happens in your browser.
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