Pronunciation - The Tones

After learning the combination of initials & finals, you have to learn the tones in Chinese language. The combination of initials and finals give us the sound of the character, but each sound can have up to 4 tones.

The 4 tones are:

Tone (1): flat tone

Tone (2): rising tone

Tone (3): falling-rising tone

Tone (4): falling tone

There is another extra tone which is “no tone” or neutral tone

Neutral Tone (0) : spoken softly

For example:

m (initial) + a (final) = ma, pronounced as ma-rk. The sound “ma” has 4 tones. Each tone can have different characters with different meaning.

Tone (1) - ma (1) : 抹 wipe

Tone (2) - ma (2) : 麻 numb

Tone (3) - ma (3) : 马 horse

Tone (4) - ma (4) : 骂 scold

* At this stage you don't need to memorize the Chinese characters here

The four tones have their symbols, which are written above the vowel in the pinyin.

ma (1) = mā

ma (2) = má

ma (3) = mă

ma (4) = mà

ma (0) = ma

There is a rule regarding where to place the tone mark in pinyin.

When there is only one vowel in the pinyin, the mark is placed above that vowel. When there are 2 vowels in the pinyin, the mark is placed above “a” first if "a" is present, follow by “e” or “o” (“e” & “o” will not exist together). If “i” and “u” exist together, the mark should be placed at the back.

For example:

Jiā  (the mark is always placed on “a” if “a” exist)

Jiē  (the mark is placed on “e” or “o” if “a” does not exist, “e” and “o” will never coexist)

Jiū  (the mark is placed at the back if “I” and “u” coexist)

Jiŏng   (the mark is placed on “e” or “o” if “a” does not exist)

Kāi  (the mark is placed on “a” if “a” exist)

Xué  (the mark is placed on “e” or “o” if “a” does not exist)

Xuān   (the mark is placed on “a” if “a” exist)

ài   (the mark is placed on “a” if “a” exist)

In spoken English, basically there are only 3 tones used, which are Tone (1), (3) & (4). Spoken English rarely use Tone (2), thus Tone (2) may be a bit more difficult to learn.

These tones can be learnt from English words, for example:

LeBron James: Le (3) Bron (4) James (4)

Salt Lake City: Salt (4) Lake (4) Ci (1) ty (4)

Tiger Woods: Ti (1) ger (1) Woods (4)

Jeremy Lin: Je (1) re (1) my (1) Lin (4)

Suspect:  Sus (3) pect (4)

In English, a spoken word or sentence almost always end with Tone (4)

His (3) car (4) is (3) nice (4)

I (3) need (4) your (3) help (4)

Don’t (4) do (4) this (4) a-(3) gain (4)

That’s why when learning Chinese, English-spoken person may tend to end a sentence with Tone (4). Chinese sentences can end with any of the 4 tones or neutral tone.

For tone (2), it is difficult to describe. You need to listen to audio regarding how tone (2) sounds like in order to master it.