Pinyin and the four tones
Hear the shape of a syllable, not just its letters.
Recognize that tone is part of a Mandarin syllable and can change its meaning.
Hear the lesson phrases
Google voice when available; device voice as a fallback.
Read the audio transcript
妈 麻 马 骂 妈妈 好吗？
A tone belongs to the word
Standard Mandarin has four main lexical tones and a neutral tone. First tone is high and level, second rises, third is low and may dip then rise, and fourth falls sharply.
The full dipping third tone is clearest in isolation or emphasis. In connected speech it is often low without a full rise. Listen to complete phrases as well as isolated syllables.
Neutral tone and pinyin spelling
A neutral-tone syllable is shorter and unstressed; its pitch depends on what comes before it. It has no tone mark in our pinyin. In 妈妈, the second syllable is normally neutral.
Pinyin letters do not always sound like English. For example, q, x, and zh need deliberate listening practice. Use a pinyin chart with recorded demonstrations and compare a small number of sounds at a time.
Lesson vocabulary
Read each word aloud, then test your recall of its meaning.
| 妈 | mother | |
| 麻 | hemp; numb | |
| 马 | horse | |
| 骂 | to scold | |
| 吗 | yes/no question particle |
Practice questions
Answer the questions and read the explanations. You can repeat the exercises.
Learn each new word with its tone. Use pinyin as a listening aid and notice how tones behave inside phrases.