Four tones

Also known as: 四声 (sìshēng).

One of the first concepts you need to learn when tackling Mandarin Chinese is tones. You'll often hear that there are four main tones, although there is also a "neutral tone," so you sometimes hear it said that there are five.

Tone Diagram

Below is the standard tone diagram you will see in most textbooks and traditional Chinese courses. The numbers 1-5 refer to relative pitch differences; they're not absolute values, and will vary from speaker to speaker.

These days, more and more Chinese learning resources are representing the 3rd tone in a different way: as a low tone (which doesn't actually rise very much, but also isn't as flat as the 1st tone). This is because 3rd tone is normally only pronounced in its full "rising and falling" form when it is pronounced in isolation (e.g. as a single, one-syllable word). Most of the time 3rd tone precedes other tones, and is pronounced as a "half-third tone" which doesn't rise again after it goes low.

Remember: the key thing about third tone is that it is low. Focus on that!

First Tone

The first tone is high and flat.

Second Tone

The second tone is rising.

Third Tone

The third tone is low.

Fourth Tone

The fourth tone is falling.

Neutral Tone

This tone has its own page, so we won't cover it here. Just keep it short and light. Don't emphasize it.

Sources and further reading

Websites

• Wikipedia: Standard Chinese phonology: Tones
• Wikipedia: Mandarin Chinese: Tones
• Wikipedia: Four tones (Chinese)
• Sinosplice: Toward Better Tones in Natural Speech
• Hacking Chinese: Tones are more important than you think
• Sinosplice: Kaiser’s “Dude System” of Tones

Videos

• YouTube: [The Most Effective Way to Learn Mandarin Tones - Tone Pairs - Google Hangout with Yangyang] (00:00-08:15)

A1 pronunciation points