Reading · tones
The four tones.
In Mandarin the pitch of a syllable is part of the word. mā is mother and mà is to scold, and they differ in nothing but the shape of the pitch. This is the single thing that makes Chinese hard for English speakers, so it is the first thing on this site.
What each one does
Tone 1: High and level
Held flat and high, like holding a note. English does this when you say ah at the doctor.
妈māmother
Tone 2: Rising
Rises from the middle to the top, the way English rises on a surprised what?
麻máhemp, numb
Tone 3: Low and dipping
Drops low and stays there. In normal speech it usually does not rise back up unless the word is alone or at the end.
马mǎhorse
Tone 4: Falling
Falls sharply from the top, the way English falls on a firm no.
骂màto scold
Neutral tone
Short, light and quick, with no shape of its own. It takes its pitch from whatever came before.
吗maquestion particle
Playback uses whatever Mandarin voice your device has. A synthetic voice gets the tones right but not the music of real speech, so treat it as a check, not a model.
Hear the difference
Pick a pair. Each button plays the two syllables one after the other, which is the only way the contrast becomes obvious.
Nothing playing.
The three tone changes
Tones shift when certain syllables meet. The spelling stays the same in all three cases, which is why this catches people out: the page says one thing and the mouth does another.
Rule 1
Third plus third
When two third tones meet, the first is said as a rising tone.
This is why the mascot, 点点, is said diándiǎn.
Rule 2
不 before a fourth tone
bù rises to bú when the next syllable falls.
Rule 3
一 changes twice
yī when counting, yì before tones 1, 2 and 3, and yí before a fourth tone.
Pinyin writes the tone a word has on its own, not the tone it takes in a particular sentence. That is a deliberate choice: it keeps a word looking the same everywhere, the way English keeps the spelling of the even though it is said differently before a vowel. Once you know the three rules you apply them automatically, and most learners stop noticing them within a month.
Three things that help
Learn the tone with the word
Never file a word away as ma and add the tone later. The tone is a letter, not an accent, and a word learned without it has to be learned twice.
Use your hand
Draw the shape in the air as you say it. It feels silly and it works, because it gives your ear something physical to match the pitch against.
Practise in pairs
Single syllables are easy. Real difficulty lives in two-syllable words, where one tone has to end and another has to start cleanly.