Mandarin grammar: Tones

Tones are a key part of pinyin, which was invented to help those learning Mandarin with pronunciation.

There are four tones in Mandarin, plus a neutral tone:

• The first tone (-) is flat

• The second tone (´) rises

• The third tone (v) goes down then up

• The fourth tone (`) falls

• The neutral tone is light

The use of tones makes more sounds available in Mandarin, which has fewer than many other languages.

They are an essential part of how you say a word in Mandarin, and if you use the wrong tone you end up saying a completely different word from the one you meant.

For example:

• 妈mā (mother)

• 麻má (linen cloth)

• 马mǎ (horse)

• 骂mà (tell off)

• 吗ma (question particle)

You can hear how those tones affect the sound: ma and what it means, below:

There are only three exceptions for how tones are said in Mandarin.

These help make the sounds flow better:

Rule one:

If there are two third tones in a row, the first third tone becomes a second tone, for example:

你nǐ (you) + 好hǎo (good) = 你好ní hǎo (hello)

Rule two:

If 不bù (not) comes before a fourth tone, 不bù becomes a second tone, for example:

不bù (not) + 对duì (correct) = 不对bú duì (wrong)

Rule three:

一Yī (one) is a first tone when alone, a second tone when it comes before a fourth tone and a fourth tone before any other tone, for example:

一yī (one) + 个gè (measure word) = 一个yí gè (a or an)

一yī (one) + 百bǎi (hundred) = 一百yì bǎi (one hundred)

This change of tone only affects the pronunciation of the words, not how they are written down.

For example, you would write ‘你好 nǐ hǎo’, but you would say 你好ní hǎo.