Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

Pinyin romanization

1.2

1.2.2 Some additional Pinyin conventions

• ‘u’ after the initials j, q, and x is pronounced ü but is written as u.


• When ‘i’ and ‘ü’ begin a syllable, they are written as yi and yu.


• When ‘u’ begins a syllable, it is written as wu.


• In two-syllable words, when the boundary between syllables is not clear from the Pinyin
  spelling and more than one interpretation of the boundary is possible, an apostrophe is used
  to separate the syllables. For example, if the second syllable begins with a vowel, an apos-
  trophe is used: Xī’ān 西安 vs. xiān 先.