What is Pinyin Converter?

This tool converts Chinese text into pinyin, the standard romanization used to learn pronunciation. Paste any simplified or traditional characters and get pinyin with tone marks (nǐ hǎo), tone numbers (ni3 hao3), or plain letters. Characters with more than one reading are resolved from the words around them. Everything runs privately on your device.

The dictionary looks up whole words rather than single characters, so 银行 comes out as yín háng and 重要 as zhòng yào. Where a character carries more than one reading, click it and pick the right one from the list. Up to 20,000 characters convert in one pass, and syllables can be joined by a space, a hyphen, or nothing at all.

How to use

1. Paste or type Chinese text — simplified and traditional characters both work.
2. Choose the output style: tone marks, tone numbers, plain pinyin, or the first letter of each syllable.
3. Copy the result, or download a side-by-side text file with the original characters and their pinyin.

When to use

• Adding pronunciation above the characters on a handout for beginner students.
• Turning song lyrics or a name into tone numbers a flashcard app will accept.
• Checking whether 行 is háng or xíng in the sentence you are reading.

Result

A Mandarin student pastes 你好，世界 and instantly reads nǐ hǎo, shì jiè — then switches to tone numbers (ni3 hao3, shi4 jie4) to type the answer into a flashcard app that doesn't accept diacritics.

FAQ

Does it pick the right reading for characters with several pronunciations?

Mostly. Because lookups happen at word level, 银行 reads yín háng while 银子 reads yín zi. When it guesses wrong, click the character and choose the reading you want from the alternatives it lists.

What is the difference between tone marks and tone numbers, and which should I use?

Tone marks (hǎo) are what textbooks and dictionaries print. Tone numbers (hao3) exist because plain keyboards and older flashcard software cannot type diacritics. The sound they describe is identical.

Does it handle traditional characters, or only simplified ones?

Both. 學習 and 学习 each come back as xué xí, since the reading is looked up from the character itself. A passage that mixes the two scripts still converts in a single pass.

Why does a syllable sometimes come back with no tone mark on it?

That is the neutral tone. Particles like 的, 了 and 吗, plus the second half of words like 朋友, are said light and short, and pinyin writes them bare. de, le, ma and péng you are all correct as printed.

Can I get the original characters and the pinyin lined up in one file?

Yes. Switch the view to characters plus pinyin and both the copy button and the text download keep that interlinear pairing, a line of characters above its romanisation. Pinyin-only export drops the Chinese.

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