Tones and your first greetings
Hear Mandarin’s four tones, read pinyin, and greet someone politely.
What you’ll work on
- Recognize four tone marks and the neutral tone.
- Say hello, thank you, and goodbye.
- Notice the spoken tone change in 你好.
A short conversation
Google voice when available; device voice as a fallback. Pinyin shows dictionary tones; natural speech includes the tone changes taught in the lessons.
你好！
Hello!
你好！
Hello!
谢谢！
Thank you!
不客气。再见！
You’re welcome. Goodbye!
A syllable includes its tone
Mandarin uses pitch patterns to distinguish words. The first tone is high and level (mā); the second rises (má); the third is low and may rise in isolation (mǎ); the fourth falls sharply (mà). The neutral tone is short and has no tone mark (ma). These are pronunciation cues, not English stress marks.
Listen to one short phrase, pause, and imitate it. Aim for a comfortable pitch range. In connected speech the third tone is often low rather than a full dip and rise.
Read characters and pinyin together
The large Chinese text uses simplified characters. Pinyin is the Roman-letter pronunciation system below it. A character usually represents a syllable; a word may contain more than one character. Pinyin spelling does not follow English spelling.
This course spaces pinyin by syllable to help beginners. It shows dictionary tones even when a tone changes in speech. Written Chinese normally has no spaces between words.
Say 你好 naturally
When two third tones occur together, the first is pronounced like a second tone. 你好 is written nǐ hǎo here, but said approximately ní hǎo. Keep the dictionary-tone spelling when answering exercises.
你好 is a useful general greeting; 您好 is more respectful. 谢谢 is followed naturally by 不客气. In 不客气, 不 is pronounced with a rising tone before the fourth tone of 客, although this course writes bù.
Lesson vocabulary
Listen once, say it aloud, and try to recall the Chinese before looking.
| Chinese / pinyin | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| 你 nǐ | you | |
| 好 hǎo | good | |
| 你好 nǐ hǎo | hello | |
| 您好 nín hǎo | hello (respectful) | |
| 谢谢 xiè xie | thank you | |
| 不客气 bù kè qi | you’re welcome | |
| 再见 zài jiàn | goodbye |
Practice questions
Try every question, then check your answers. Capital letters and punctuation do not affect your score. Pinyin tone marks matter. For typed answers, use simplified characters or the taught pinyin (spacing is flexible).
Showing an answer makes that question a practice item worth zero for this attempt. Retry with the answers hidden when you’re ready. If audio cannot play, use Show answer / text to practice by reading.
Independent practice
These are independent practice tasks. The site does not record your voice, save your writing, or grade open-ended answers. Ask a teacher or conversation partner for feedback when you can.
Speaking practice
Greet someone, thank them, and say goodbye. Repeat 你好, listening for the rising first syllable and low second syllable.
Writing practice
Write a three-line exchange with 你好, 谢谢, and 不客气. You can use characters or pinyin.
Review the lesson objectives
Select the tasks you can complete independently. This self-assessment does not change your quiz score.
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