Gboard pinyin input auto-completes before tones

[rasen58]

I downloaded the google pinyin Chinese keyboard, and it won't let me add tones because it just inserts a chinese character when I let go of a tone.

See the images here: https://imgur.com/a/iJ4J9bY
In the first image, I already typed 't' and want to add 'á' next. So I long-press on 'a', and then let go on 'á', but when I let go, the keyboard auto inserts the previous suggestion and as you can see in the second picture, I now have a chinese character followed by á.

Am I just using this keyboard wrong? Am I supposed to not use tones and only insert 'ta', and then search for the correct chinese character myself?

 

[mikedt]

I think when you want to type the actual Pinyin alphabet letters rather than Chinese characters, you have to hold down on all letters, like long press and select "t", long press and select "á".

Google Pinyin Input by default automatically assume you want to type Chinese characters rather than typing out actual Pinyin alphabet letters. However if you switch Google Pinyin to English mode, you can just type "t" normally, and then hold down on "a" to select the tone mark you want, and so it will come out as "tá".