<p>when I was in primary school,My teacher always told us a mnemonic rhyme.</p>
<p>“有a先找a，没a找o,e。i,u并列标在后。”</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-22T03:30:58.163Z
2022-04-22T03:30:58.163Z
CN.hitori
<p>The simple rule is that it goes on the first match in this list: a; o; e; the last i or u.</p>
<p>As to why this is the case, the tone mark should go on the sustained vowel sound. This is the reason of i and u breaking the aoeiu order - iu and ui are actually contractions of iou and uei.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-25T18:50:00.167Z
2022-05-01T22:49:37.017Z
2022-05-01T22:49:37.017Z
Max Xiong
<p>You are close. It does go alphabetically, but the alphabet isn't the English one. Well, why should it follow the English alphabet anyway?</p>
<p>If there are two or three vowel letters, the tone mark is placed above the vowel listed earliest in this sequence: a o e i u ü.</p>
<p>BTW, you have a very nice screen name :)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-21T16:22:45.970Z
Haha thanks. There is one exception though, if the pinyin contains iu then the tone mark is placed on the u and not the i, see the link in my comment on the original post.
F Chopin
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-21T18:26:41.493Z
@FChopin I never noticed that. As they say, you live to learn. Thanks.
monalisa
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-22T07:52:46.547Z
It is not a fixed sequence: guì (贵) vs  liù (六)
fefe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-22T20:53:15.543Z
@fefe, "guì" is really "guèi".  Similarly, "iū" is really "iōu".  Pinyin has "simplified" spelling like this that actually makes things more complicated, and causes the rest of the world to mispronounce it. "Fung Shoo-EE" anyone?
Ray Butterworth
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-21T15:59:50.553Z
2022-04-21T15:59:50.553Z
monalisa
<p>When a plain pronunciation connects to multiple words, the tone mark is to be placed on where the emphasis to be, which is the vowel that changes the sound/way of pronunciation.</p>
<ul>
<li>手[shǒu]  受[shòu]  熟[shóu]  收[shōu]</li>
<li>想[xiǎng] 詳[xiang] 相[xiàng,xiāng]</li>
<li>短[duǎn]  斷[duàn]  端[duān]</li>
<li>率[shuài] 摔[shuāi] 甩[shuǎi]</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-21T18:25:04.177Z
What does "the vowel that changes the sound/way of pronunciation" mean? In your first example, how does /o/ changes the sound, but not /u/? And what is the sound that gets changed? Same question with all the other examples you listed.
monalisa
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-21T18:51:10.013Z
@monalisa You can try to pronounce these words with the tone marks (重音/輕音/平音/揚音) on "u" and find the words associated with those pronunciations.. I doubt there is any, but I could be wrong though.
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-21T17:26:24.150Z
2022-04-21T19:07:31.080Z
2022-04-21T19:07:31.080Z
r13
<p>In pinyin the tone mark (diacritical mark) only goes on vowels.</p>
<p>If there is only one vowel in a character's pinyin then the answer is easy, the tone mark just goes on the vowel. For example:</p>
<p>思 sī, 于 yú, 鼠 shǔ, 指 zhǐ</p>
<p>If there is more than one vowel in the character's pinyin, then the tone mark goes on one of the vowels, but is there a rule to decide which vowel it goes on? For example:</p>
<p>手 shǒu, 想 xiǎng, 短 duǎn, 率 shuài</p>
<p>You can see from the examples that it is not always on the first vowel, or always on the last vowel.</p>
<p>For a while I thought it might be that the tone mark goes on alphabetically the first vowel in the character's pinyin, ie. if the character has 'a' then put it on 'a', if the character doesn't have 'a' but has 'e' then put it on 'e', if it doesn't have 'e' but has 'i' then put it on 'i', etc. But I found some counter examples to this:</p>
<p>丢 diū, 留 liú, 久 jiǔ</p>
<p>Is there a rule that determines where to put the tone mark?</p>
<p>I am asking because I want to convert between pinyin of the form with numbers (eg. bing3, tong2, suan1) to the format with diacritics without having to use huge lookup tables.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-21T10:19:43.757Z
This source seems to be correct based on a scan I did of CC-CEDICT, I couldn't find any counter-examples. I'll write it up as a full answer later: https://wenku.baidu.com/view/342611660975f46526d3e13b.html
F Chopin
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-21T21:17:28.470Z
The other exception to "alphabetically" is 熊 xióng.
Becky 李蓓
<pinyin><tones>
Where to put the tone mark in pinyin
# Where to put the tone mark in pinyin

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-04-21)

In pinyin the tone mark (diacritical mark) only goes on vowels.

If there is only one vowel in a character's pinyin then the answer is easy, the tone mark just goes on the vowel. For example:

思 sī, 于 yú, 鼠 shǔ, 指 zhǐ

If there is more than one vowel in the character's pinyin, then the tone mark goes on one of the vowels, but is there a rule to decide which vowel it goes on? For example:

手 shǒu, 想 xiǎng, 短 duǎn, 率 shuài

You can see from the examples that it is not always on the first vowel, or always on the last vowel.

For a while I thought it might be that the tone mark goes on alphabetically the first vowel in the character's pinyin, ie. if the character has 'a' then put it on 'a', if the character doesn't have 'a' but has 'e' then put it on 'e', if it doesn't have 'e' but has 'i' then put it on 'i', etc. But I found some counter examples to this:

丢 diū, 留 liú, 久 jiǔ

Is there a rule that determines where to put the tone mark?

I am asking because I want to convert between pinyin of the form with numbers (eg. bing3, tong2, suan1) to the format with diacritics without having to use huge lookup tables.

**Tags:** pinyin, tones

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: This source seems to be correct based on a scan I did of CC-CEDICT, I couldn't find any counter-examples. I'll write it up as a full answer later: https://wenku.baidu.com/view/342611660975f46526d3e13b.html  
> **username_1**: The other exception to "alphabetically" is 熊 xióng.  

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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-04-22. Score: 4

when I was in primary school,My teacher always told us a mnemonic rhyme.

“有a先找a，没a找o,e。i,u并列标在后。”


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2022-04-25. Score: 3

The simple rule is that it goes on the first match in this list: a; o; e; the last i or u.

As to why this is the case, the tone mark should go on the sustained vowel sound. This is the reason of i and u breaking the aoeiu order - iu and ui are actually contractions of iou and uei.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2022-04-21. Score: 2

You are close. It does go alphabetically, but the alphabet isn't the English one. Well, why should it follow the English alphabet anyway?

If there are two or three vowel letters, the tone mark is placed above the vowel listed earliest in this sequence: a o e i u ü.

BTW, you have a very nice screen name :)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Haha thanks. There is one exception though, if the pinyin contains iu then the tone mark is placed on the u and not the i, see the link in my comment on the original post.  
> **username_4**: @FChopin I never noticed that. As they say, you live to learn. Thanks.  
> **username_5**: It is not a fixed sequence: guì (贵) vs  liù (六)  
> **username_6**: @username_5, "guì" is really "guèi".  Similarly, "iū" is really "iōu".  Pinyin has "simplified" spelling like this that actually makes things more complicated, and causes the rest of the world to mispronounce it. "Fung Shoo-EE" anyone?  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2022-04-21. Score: 0

When a plain pronunciation connects to multiple words, the tone mark is to be placed on where the emphasis to be, which is the vowel that changes the sound/way of pronunciation.

* 手[shǒu] 受[shòu] 熟[shóu] 收[shōu]
* 想[xiǎng] 詳[xiang] 相[xiàng,xiāng]
* 短[duǎn] 斷[duàn] 端[duān]
* 率[shuài] 摔[shuāi] 甩[shuǎi]

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: What does "the vowel that changes the sound/way of pronunciation" mean? In your first example, how does /o/ changes the sound, but not /u/? And what is the sound that gets changed? Same question with all the other examples you listed.  
> **username_7**: @username_4 You can try to pronounce these words with the tone marks (重音/輕音/平音/揚音) on "u" and find the words associated with those pronunciations.. I doubt there is any, but I could be wrong though.  

---

