How to Type Pinyin Tone Marks and ü: A Practical Character Guide

To write nǚ, lǜ, or xué in a vocabulary note, you need Latin letters with accents. A Chinese Pinyin input method normally turns pronunciation codes into Chinese characters instead. Start by deciding which output you want, then use the matching tool.

For an occasional note, copy the accented vowel from the table below. For repeated entry in Windows desktop Word, use a Unicode code and Alt + X. On Mac, use the Character Viewer to find and insert the letter. Test the method in your actual editor before writing a long list.

Pinyin text and a Pinyin input method do different jobs

The letter v is an input convention, not the written Pinyin vowel ü. Apple documents lv as the full-Pinyin input code for 绿 in its Pinyin–Simplified input source. That gives a Chinese candidate; it does not make the final Latin spelling lv correct for a pronunciation note.

Other input methods may accept v, ü, tone numbers, or different sequences. Check the particular keyboard rather than assuming every Pinyin IME accepts the same code. If your goal is Chinese characters, start with our Pinyin input method guide. This article deals with keeping the Latin Pinyin visible.

Copyable vowels with all four tone marks

The columns run from first to fourth tone. A neutral-tone syllable normally has no tone accent; ü still keeps its two dots when its spelling requires them.

Uppercase equivalents, useful at the start of a name or sentence:

Copy only the needed letter, then paste it into your word. For 女, type n with Latin input and insert ǚ. Confirm the result is nǚ, with both the diaeresis and the third-tone mark above the u.

Put the accent on the right vowel

For ordinary vowel syllables, use this sequence:

1. If there is a, mark a: hao3 → hǎo.
2. Otherwise, mark o or e when present: gou3 → gǒu; xue2 → xué.
3. In iu and ui, mark the second vowel: liu4 → liù; shui3 → shuǐ.
4. With one written vowel, mark that vowel: ni3 → nǐ; lü4 → lǜ.

On i, the tone accent replaces the dot: use ǐ, not a dotted i with an extra spacing symbol above it. After j, q, and x, the two dots of ü are omitted in standard Pinyin spelling: jù, qù, xū. After n and l, keep the distinction: nǚ and lǜ differ from nǔ and lù. The University of Kansas textbook Ting Yi Ting explains these spelling conventions.

These examples are spelling drills with the tone already supplied. If you do not know the word's tone, look it up in your course dictionary first. An accent-entry method cannot determine the intended pronunciation from an unaccented word alone.

Windows desktop Word: enter the exact Unicode letter

Microsoft's Unicode entry instructions for Word cover Word for Microsoft 365 and desktop Word versions including 2024 and 2021. They document typing a hexadecimal code and pressing Alt + X. This is a Word operation; it is not a universal Windows shortcut or a promise about Word in a browser.

To enter nǚ:

1. Switch to English or another Latin input mode.
2. Type n01DA in the document.
3. Select only 01DA, leaving the n outside the selection.
4. Press Alt + X. Check that the result is nǚ.

Selecting the code is useful when it sits next to letters or digits: it tells Word which characters to convert. Do not type the U+ prefix.

Plain ü is 00FC; uppercase Ü is 00DC. The codes above were checked against Unicode's Latin-1 Supplement, Latin Extended-A, and Latin Extended-B charts.

If Alt + X does not produce the intended letter, select the code again and check its spelling. You can also use Insert → Symbol → More Symbols, choosing Unicode (hex) in the character-code controls. Use a font that supports the letter, then verify the final word after pasting it elsewhere.

Mac: use Character Viewer for occasional Pinyin notes

In the macOS Tahoe 26 Character Viewer instructions, Apple documents Edit → Emoji & Symbols or Fn/Globe + E. Character Viewer includes accented Latin letters as well as emoji.

1. In your editor, switch to ABC or another Latin input source and type the unaccented part of the word.
2. Choose Edit → Emoji & Symbols. Expand the viewer if you need its full controls.
3. Search for the letter's Unicode name or code, for example 01DA or LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS AND CARON.
4. Choose ǚ. In the expanded viewer, double-click to insert it.
5. Check the complete result, such as nǚ, and add frequently used letters to Favorites if useful.

Search results and menu availability depend on the app and system version. If the needed letter is difficult to find, copy it from this page's table and verify it in the destination document. Native Word and Mac operations here are based on vendor documentation; they have not been tested on every keyboard layout or editor.

A press-and-hold vowel menu may be convenient, but do not assume it contains every Pinyin letter. In particular, verify that a third-tone choice is ǎ with a caron, rather than the visually similar ă with a breve.

When the accents look right but copying or searching behaves oddly

Unicode can represent an accented letter as one precomposed code point or as a base letter followed by combining marks. For example:

The combining characters are macron U+0304, acute U+0301, caron U+030C, grave U+0300, and diaeresis U+0308, as listed in the Unicode combining-marks chart. A separate spacing accent is a different character and does not belong in these sequences.

Unicode normalization explains the relationship: NFC can compose these sequences into the corresponding letters; NFD decomposes them. An app may or may not normalize pasted text. Identical-looking words can therefore have different raw code-point sequences, and an exact comparison that ignores normalization may treat them differently.

For an ordinary study note, the precomposed letters in the table are convenient. If a form rejects Pinyin accents, read its field requirements before changing the spelling. Official name fields may have their own romanization and character restrictions; do not add tones to a registered name merely because this article shows how.

Eight-minute practice: type, correct, and check

Use a blank local document. In these exercises, the numbers deliberately specify the desired tone; ü is written explicitly, rather than relying on an IME's v convention.

Exercise 1: turn numbered syllables into marked text

Type the marked Pinyin for each item:

ma1 · ma2 · ma3 · ma4 · ni3 · hao3 · xue2 · liu4 · shui3 · nü3 · lü4 · qu4

Answer key:

mā · má · mǎ · mà · nǐ · hǎo · xué · liù · shuǐ · nǚ · lǜ · qù

Check the two compound finals, liù and shuǐ, separately. For qù, the spelling has u without dots even though the final has the ü sound.

Exercise 2: repair the spelling

Here the intended syllable is supplied. nǔ and lù are valid Pinyin spellings for other syllables; they are wrong for these particular targets.

Exercise 3: copy a small vocabulary card

Enter these three lines, preserving accents and spaces:

女 — nǚ — woman

绿色 — lǜsè — green

学习 — xuéxí — study

Copy one completed line into a second blank document. Check that both dots and tones survive, that xuéxí still has two accents, and that no tone number remains. The three lines above are also the answer key.

Continue with Chinese-character typing

If you want to practise producing 汉字 rather than Latin pronunciation notes, use TypeChinese's Simplified HSK 1 vocabulary practice with Pinyin hints. Enter the Chinese characters with your system input method and use the visible Pinyin as reading support.

That practice does not assess a list of literal Latin spellings such as nǚ or xuéxí. Keep the accent-entry exercises in your editor, where you can compare them with this page's exact characters. Next time, practise only the two or three letters you needed to look up.