Introduction to Tones in Mandarin

Huiqiang Zheng

19 Introduction to Tones in Mandarin

Welcome to the music of Chinese language!

Unlike English, Chinese does not only differentiate the meaning by different vowels and consonants, but also different pitch. The high level (ma) with first tone is different from the dropping down tone (ma) which means scold. When you want to ask a question, you will say (Wen) with fourth tone accurately without any misunderstanding or confusion, rather than the (wen) with third, which means kiss.

Get ready to unlock the secrets of tones and elevate your Mandarin pronunciation to a whole new level!

There are in total four basic tones in Mandarin Chinese.

Chinese is a tonal language. In mandarin, there are four tones plus neutral tone.

First tone: High pitch and level tone (the pitch is 5-5)

Second tone: High rising tone (the pitch is 2-4)

Third tone: fall-rise tone (the pitch is 2-1-4)

Fourth tone: falling tone (the pitch is 4-1)

🔊 1. First Tone (ˉ) –– High and Level

Example syllable:
- mā (妈 – mother)
- gōng (公 – public),
- shū (书 – book),
- tiān (天 – sky)

🔊 2. Second Tone (ˊ) – Rising, like a question

Example syllable:
- má (麻 – hemp)
- píng (平 – flat),
- chú (厨 – kitchen),
- míng (明 – bright)

🔊 3. Third Tone (ˇ) – Falling then rising

Example syllable:
- mǎ (马 – horse)
- lǐ (李 – a surname),
- nǐ (你 – you),
- hǎo (好 – good)

🔊 4. Fourth Tone (ˋ) – Sharp, falling

Example syllable:
- mà (骂 – to scold)
- dà (大 – big),
- shàng (上 – up),
- kàn (看 – to look)

Neutral Tone (轻声 qīngshēng) – Light and soft

Examples:
- māma (妈妈 – mom) → second “ma” is neutral
- bàba (爸爸 – dad) → second “ba” is neutral
- zhèr (这儿 – here) vs zài zhèr (在这儿 – with zhèr as neutral)