I can hear the four tones and the neutral tone and recognize them by their marks, name a tone by its number, and put the mark over the right letter — and keep the tones in a question instead of letting my voice rise as in English.
The syllable and the tone
The syllable and the tone
A Chinese syllable = initial (the first consonant) + final (the rest) + tone: bā = b + a + high level tone. Pinyin is the official spelling of Chinese sounds in Latin letters; its letters have their own values: x is not the x of “taxi”, q is not the q of “queen”.
The tone is part of the word, like a letter: bā (八) “eight” and bà (爸, in 爸爸 bàba) “dad” are different words; so are mǎi “to buy” and mài “to sell”.
Four tones: ˉ 1st — high and level; ˊ 2nd — rising; ˇ 3rd — low (with a rise only alone or at the end of a phrase); ˋ 4th — a sharp fall. With numbers: mā = ma1, má = ma2, mǎ = ma3, mà = ma4. See the table.
The neutral tone has no mark: a short, light syllable, but not swallowed — bàba, māma. Its number is 5, or none.
Where the mark goes: on a; with no a, on o or e; in iu and ui, on the second letter (liù, guì); with one vowel, on it (mǐng, bù).
Intonation doesn't cancel the tone: an English question rises at the end; in Chinese each syllable keeps its tone.
In writing, pinyin without tone marks or with numbers is fine: the checker doesn't compare tones; listening exercises do.
Common mistakes:
• NOT letting the 1st tone fall at the end, as in a flat English “Yes.”: bā stays level.
• NOT starting the 2nd tone with a dip — that's the 3rd.
• NOT swallowing the neutral tone or reducing it to “uh”: bàba has two syllables.
Four tones and the neutral tone
The full rise of the 3rd tone: only alone and at the end of a phrase.
| Tone | Mark | Number when typing | How it sounds | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | ˉ | 1 | high and level, like a long sung note | 八 (bā) — eight |
| 2nd | ˊ | 2 | rising, like a surprised “What?” | 十 (shí) — ten |
| 3rd | ˇ | 3 | low; alone, down and a little up | 你 (nǐ) — you |
| 4th | ˋ | 4 | a sharp fall, like the command “Stop!” | 不 (bù) — not |
| neutral | no mark | 5 or nothing | short and light | 爸爸 (bàba) — dad |
Where the tone mark goes
| What the syllable has | The mark goes over | Model syllable |
|---|---|---|
| an a | a | bā |
| no a, but o or e | o or e | duō, gē |
| iu | u (the second letter) | liù |
| ui | i (the second letter) | guì |
| only one vowel | that vowel | mǐng, bù |
Lesson notes
The syllable and the tone
A Chinese syllable = initial (the first consonant) + final (the rest) + tone: bā = b + a + high level tone. Pinyin is the official spelling of Chinese sounds in Latin letters; its letters have their own values: x is not the x of “taxi”, q is not the q of “queen”.
The tone is part of the word, like a letter: bā (八) “eight” and bà (爸, in 爸爸 bàba) “dad” are different words; so are mǎi “to buy” and mài “to sell”.
Four tones: ˉ 1st — high and level; ˊ 2nd — rising; ˇ 3rd — low (with a rise only alone or at the end of a phrase); ˋ 4th — a sharp fall. With numbers: mā = ma1, má = ma2, mǎ = ma3, mà = ma4. See the table.
The neutral tone has no mark: a short, light syllable, but not swallowed — bàba, māma. Its number is 5, or none.
Where the mark goes: on a; with no a, on o or e; in iu and ui, on the second letter (liù, guì); with one vowel, on it (mǐng, bù).
Intonation doesn't cancel the tone: an English question rises at the end; in Chinese each syllable keeps its tone.
In writing, pinyin without tone marks or with numbers is fine: the checker doesn't compare tones; listening exercises do.
Common mistakes:
• NOT letting the 1st tone fall at the end, as in a flat English “Yes.”: bā stays level.
• NOT starting the 2nd tone with a dip — that's the 3rd.
• NOT swallowing the neutral tone or reducing it to “uh”: bàba has two syllables.