Onsets

The first cell indicates the initial, generally in dots 1 to 4, and the medial in dots 5 and 6. This design exploits restrictions on co-occurrence of initials and medials to fit all the allowable combinations in a single cell.

The medial -i- is represented by dot 5 (⠐), the medial -u- by dot 6 (⠠), and the medial -ü- by both dots 5 and 6 (⠰). The z c s series is derived from zh ch sh as if they contained a -i- medial; these two series are not distinguished in many Mandarin dialects. As in traditional Chinese Braille, k g h and q j x are unified, as they never contrast.

A null/zero initial (a vowel-initial syllable) is indicated with the null consonant ⠾.

–

b-

p-

m-

f-

d-

t-

n-

l-

g-

k-

h-

zh-

ch-

sh-

r-

y-

bi-

pi-

mi-

di-

ti-

ni-

li-

ji-

qi-

xi-

z-

c-

s-

w-

du-

tu-

nu-

lu-

gu-

ku-

hu-

zhu-

chu-

shu-

ru-

yu-

nü-

lü-

ju-

qu-

xu-

zu-

cu-

su-

At least one letter in each place of articulation comes from international use (⠖ f, ⠞ ti, ⠇ l, ⠅ k, ⠓ xi, ⠉ zh), with at least some of the others derived from these (cf. ⠅⠃⠁ k h g and ⠍⠋⠉ ch sh zh).

Rimes

The second cell represents the rime, generally in the top half of the cell, and the tone, generally in dots 3 and 6.

Tone 1 (mā) is indicated by dot 3 (⠄), tone 2 (má) by dot 6 (⠠), and tone 3 (mǎ) by dots 3 and 6 (⠤). (In rime -ei, which already contains a dot 3, the dot 3 for tones 1 and 3 is replaced by dot 5 (⠐ or ⠰).) Tone 4 (mà) and neutral/toneless syllables use the basic rime.

A null/zero rime (a syllable ending with medial i u ü) is written with ⠃.

-ì, -ù, -ǜ	-à	-è, -ò	-ài	-èi	-ào	-òu	-àn	-èn	-àng	-èng	èr
-ī, -ū, -ǖ	-ā	-ē, -ō	-āi	-ēi	-āo	-ōu	-ān	-ēn	-āng	-ēng	ēr
-í, -ú, -ǘ	-á	-é, -ó	-ái	-éi	-áo	-óu	-án	-én	-áng	-éng	ér
-ǐ, -ǔ, -ǚ	-ǎ	-ě, -ǒ	-ǎi	-ěi	-ǎo	-ǒu	-ǎn	-ěn	-ǎng	-ěng	ěr

• ⠃ is the 'zero' rime transcribed as -i after z c s zh ch sh r in pinyin; here it's also used to carry the tone for syllables where the medial is the rime, such as gu or mi. After b p m f, it is equivalent to pinyin -u.
• ⠊ is transcribed in pinyin as o after b p m f w and the medial u; otherwise it's e.

The rime er is written as if it were *ra; this is possible because *ra is not a possible syllable in Mandarin. At the end of a word, ⠔ -r is erhua, as in ⠣⠞⠔ huār (花儿). Within a word, hyphenate erhua (⠔⠤) to avoid confusion with an initial r- in the following syllable.

The exclamation ê is ⠐⠊, yo is ⠈⠊, and o is ⠠⠊, with appropriate modification for tone.

Combining onset and rime

Combinations of onset and rime follow the conventions of zhuyin, and are therefore not obvious from pinyin transcription.

• for pinyin -in, use medial -i- with rime -en; for -ing, use -i- and -eng
• for -un (the equivalent of wen), use -u- and -en; for -ong (the equivalent of weng), use -u- and -eng
• for -iong (the equivalent of yueng, though written yong in pinyin), use -ü- and -eng

Several syllables are palindromes, with the onset and rime written the same:

⠾⠾ ǎ, ⠊⠊ bò, ⠪⠪ mó, ⠮⠮ tuǒ, ⠯⠯ nuǎn, ⠗⠗ liāo, ⠧⠧ lǔ, ⠑⠑ jìng, ⠕⠕ qīng, ⠥⠥ kǔn, ⠓⠓ xiào, ⠣⠣ hú, ⠉⠉ zhòu, ⠙⠙ zàng, ⠍⠍ chōu, ⠝⠝ cāng, ⠋⠋ shàn, ⠛⠛ sài

A toneless or 4th-tone zero rime is omitted at the end of a polysyllabic word. (Words ending in ⠔⠃ rì (日) 'day' are an exception, to prevent confusion with the erhua suffix.) When context makes it unambiguous, the zero rime in other tones may also be omitted.

Sandhi is not rendered; rather, the inherent tone of a morpheme is written.

The following are rendered as toneless syllables:

• Interjections and grammatical particles such as 啊 a, 呀 ya, 哇 wa, 吧 ba, 啦 la, 呢 ne, 吗 ma.
• The verbal aspectual suffixes 了 -le, 着 -zhe, 过 -guo
• The nominal suffixes 子 -zi and 头 -tou.