Chinese Tones

Chinese is a tonal language, a language with many homonyms ( words of different meaning but with similar pronunciation ). Mandarin has four tones:

First tone ( - ): the voice is pitched quite high,High and level;

Second tone ( / ): the voice rises rather like asking a question,rises to the top;

Third tone ( V ): the voice dips and then rises;

Fourth tone ( \ ): the voice starts at the top, then falls away.

Below is an example of how the tones change the meaning:

Tones Pinyin English Chinese

First tone ( - ) mā mother 妈

Second tone ( / ) má hemp 麻

Third tone ( V ) mǎ horse 马

Fourth tone ( \ ) mà to scold 骂

If you use the wrong tones, your listeners may not be able to understand you.