Basic Rules of Hanyu Pinyin – General rules
- Words are the basic units for spelling the Chinese Common Language.
- rén (person/people),
- péngyou (friend[s]),
- túshūguǎn (library/libraries)
- Structures of two or three syllables that indicate a complete concept are linked:
- quánguó (the whole nation),
- duìbuqǐ (sorry),
- qiūhǎitáng (begonia)
- Separate terms with more than 4 syllables if they can be separated into words, otherwise link all the syllables:
- wúfèng gāngbǐ (seamless pen),
- yánjiūshēngyuàn (graduate school),
- jīngtǐguǎn gōnglǜ fàngdàqì (transistor power amplifier),
- Hóngshízìhuì (Red Cross)
- Reduplicated monosyllabic words are linked, but reduplicated disyllabic words are separated:
- rénrén (everybody),
- chángshi chángshi (give it a try)
Juxtaposed reduplications (AABB structures) are separated by a hyphen:
- láilái-wǎngwǎng (come to and fro)
- qīngqīng-chǔchǔ (be clearly)
- In certain situations, for the purpose of making it convenient to read and understand the words, a hyphen can be added:
- huán-bǎo (environmental protection)
- shíqī-bā suì (17 or 18 years old)
