Chinese Tones: A Beginner's Guide to the 4 Mandarin Tones

Chinese tones are the pitch patterns that change the meaning of a syllable. Mandarin Chinese has four main tones plus a light neutral tone: high and flat (ā), rising (á), low and dipping (ǎ) and falling (à). Pinyin shows each one with a small mark above the vowel, so you always know which melody to use.

What are Chinese tones?#

A tone is the pitch shape of a syllable: your voice stays high, rises, dips or falls. In Chinese, the word for tone is 声调(shēngdiào).

In English, pitch adds emotion. In Mandarin, it changes the word itself. bā and bà are as different as "bat" and "bad" in English. That is why every syllable in pinyin carries a small tone mark above its main vowel.

The 4 Mandarin tones, with audio#

Here is the same syllable, ba, said with each of the four tones. Tap a tone to hear it and watch the shape your voice should follow.

Many textbooks use ma instead: mā (妈, mother), má (麻, hemp), mǎ (马, horse) and mà (骂, to scold). The melody of each tone stays the same, whatever the syllable.

Chinese tones chart#

The pitch numbers use the 1–5 scale linguists use for tones: 5 is the top of your voice and 1 the bottom. 55 stays high, 35 rises from the middle, 214 dips to the bottom and comes back up, and 51 falls from top to bottom.

1st tone: high and flat (ā)#

Start high and hold it steady, as if you were singing one long note. Keep it level: no rise, no fall at the end. You hear it in 书 shū (book) and 天 tiān (sky, day).

2nd tone: rising (á)#

Start in the middle of your voice and go up, the way English speakers ask "Huh?" or "What?". You hear it in 茶 chá (tea) and 人 rén (person).

3rd tone: low and dipping (ǎ)#

On its own, the third tone dips low and comes back up a little. Inside a sentence it usually stays low, which is easier to say. You hear it in 我 wǒ (I, me) and 好 hǎo (good).

4th tone: falling (à)#

Start high and drop quickly and firmly, like saying "No!" when you mean it. You hear it in 是 shì (to be) and 不 bù (not).

The neutral tone: short and light#

The neutral tone has no mark. Say it quickly and lightly, without any effort. It appears in small words like the question particle 吗 ma and the possessive 的 de, and in the second syllable of words like 妈妈 māma (mom).

Chinese tone marks: how tones are written in pinyin#

Tone marks are one part of pinyin, the spelling system for Mandarin sounds. Pinyin puts the tone mark on a vowel. When a syllable has several vowels, these rules decide where the mark goes:

1. If there is an a or an e, it takes the mark: hǎo, xiè.
2. In ou, the o takes the mark: gǒu (dog).
3. Otherwise, the last vowel takes it: duì (correct), liù (six).

Tone numbers#

When marks cannot be typed, dictionaries and keyboards use numbers instead: ba1, ba2, ba3 and ba4 for bā, bá, bǎ and bà. The neutral tone is usually written 5 (ma5) or left without a number.

Tone changes you will hear every day#

Some tones change when they meet other tones. These changes are called tone sandhi. Three of them appear in the very first words you learn.

Two third tones in a row#

When two third tones meet, the first one is said as a second tone. Pinyin usually still writes both as third tones.

你好！

Nǐ hǎo! (said like ní hǎo)

不 bù before a fourth tone#

不 is normally fourth tone, bù. Before another fourth tone it becomes second tone, and most learning materials write the change.

我不是老师。

Wǒ bú shì lǎoshī.

一 yī changes too#

一 (one) is first tone when you count or say it alone. Before a fourth tone it becomes yí, as in 一样 yíyàng (the same). Before the other tones it becomes yì, as in 一天 yìtiān (one day).

To see these changes in any sentence, paste it into the pinyin converter and turn on “As pronounced”.

Why tones matter, and why you don't need to be perfect#

Native speakers use context to understand you, so a small slip rarely stops a conversation. Some pairs, however, are worth getting right from the start:

Aim to be understood, not flawless. Clear tones come from many short, relaxed repetitions, not from one perfect attempt.

How to practice Chinese tones#

1. Learn every new word with its tone. Say māma, not "mama". The tone is part of the word, not a decoration.
2. Listen first, then repeat out loud. Play a tone in the chart above, then copy its melody right after you hear it.
3. Draw the tone with your hand. Move your hand flat, up, down-and-up or down as you speak. It helps your voice follow.
4. Practice in pairs of syllables. Most Chinese words have two syllables, so tone pairs sound more natural than single syllables: 中国 Zhōngguó, 老师 lǎoshī, 谢谢 xièxie.
5. Record yourself. Compare your recording with native audio and adjust one tone at a time.

Tones become natural the same way words do: by meeting them again and again in real sentences. Start with the four ba tones, add a few tone pairs each day, and let your ear do the rest. That is the idea behind Tuni Chinese: one new word a day, with its pinyin, its audio and a short story to hear it again.