Chinese tones and pinyin
Mandarin has four tones and a neutral tone, and the tone is part of the word: mā (mother), má (hemp), mǎ (horse) and mà (to scold) are four different words.
Pinyin is how Chinese is written in the Latin alphabet. Most letters are close to English, but a few (q, x, zh, c, ü) are not.
The essentials
- First tone high and level, second rising, third low (dipping), fourth falling; the neutral tone is short and light.
- Two third tones in a row: the first becomes a second tone (你好 is said ní hǎo).
- 不 becomes bú, and 一 yí, before a fourth tone; 一 is yì before the other tones.
- q is like the ch in 'cheese', x the sh in 'she' (with a smile), c the ts in 'cats'; ü is 'ee' with rounded lips.
Every lesson on this topic
Each lesson has a full explanation, examples in characters and pinyin you can listen to, and exercises with answers.
A0 (the A0 course)
- The four tones: The four tones and the neutral tone; tone marks in pinyin; why tones change meaning
- Pinyin: letters that surprise you: Pinyin letters that surprise English speakers: q, x, j, zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, ü and the -i of zhi/shi/si
- Tone changes: 你好, 不 and 一: Tone changes: two third tones in a row, 不 bù → bú, and 一 yī → yí / yì
In the app, these lessons are taught one idea at a time with audio, practised with questions you can answer in characters or pinyin, and brought back for review.
Other topics
- 了 (le) in Chinese, explained
- 的, 地 and 得: the three de
- Chinese measure words
- The 把 (bǎ) sentence, explained
- 被 (bèi) and the passive in Chinese
- 是…的 (shì…de): when, where and how
- Comparisons with 比 (bǐ)
- 过 (guò) and 着 (zhe): experience and ongoing states
- Chinese complements: result, direction and potential
- Questions in Chinese: 吗, question words and particles
- 不 (bù) or 没 (méi): negation in Chinese
- Chinese conjunctions: because, although, if
- Chengyu: Chinese four-character idioms
- Chinese numbers, dates and time