LessonsChinese · Lesson 3
Chinese · Lesson 3 · The four tones (and the neutral one)
Every Mandarin syllable carries a tone, and changing the tone changes the word: the syllable ma can be “mum”, “hemp”, “horse” or “to scold”. There are four tones and a light, neutral one. Tap each tone to hear it and watch its pitch line.
🔊 The sound in these lessons comes from your device’s own Mandarin voice, so it differs from device to device. Recorded audio will follow.
🎼 The pitch map
| 1st tone | mā | high and level, like holding a sung note; do not let it sag |
| 2nd tone | má | rises from the middle to the top, like asking “What?” |
| 3rd tone | mǎ | low: it dips to the bottom and, when said alone, lifts again. Inside a sentence it mostly just stays low |
| 4th tone | mà | falls sharply from the top to the bottom, short and firm, like a decisive “No!” |
| neutral | ma | light and short, with no shape of its own; its pitch follows the syllable before it. No mark is written |
English uses these same pitch shapes for feeling — a rising “What?”, a falling “No!”. In Mandarin they belong to the word itself, so they stay the same whether you are asking, stating or shouting.
🎯 Same sounds, different tone, different word
🧩 Two syllables: all sixteen combinations
Most Chinese words have two syllables, so what you really learn is the melody of each tone pair. Every tile below is a very common word.
1st tone + …
2nd tone + …
3rd tone + …
4th tone + …
… + neutral
Listen closely to 你好: two third tones in a row are not said as two dips. Lesson 4 explains what happens.