Tone 1 · high and level
Keep the pitch high and even.
PRONUNCIATION FOUNDATIONS
Start with one clear sound.
Get familiar with pinyin and tones before building sentences.
Tone 2 · rising
Rise from the middle to a high pitch.
Tone 3 · low
Go low; the pitch rises clearly mainly in isolation or at a phrase ending.
Tone 4 · falling
Start high and fall quickly.
Neutral tone
Short and light; pitch depends on the preceding syllable. Listen in 好吗？ (hǎo ma).
Initials and finals
Common initials
Common finals
Listen to combined sounds in real words. ü differs from u; its dots are normally omitted after j, q, and x in standard pinyin.
Not every third tone follows one fixed curve.
When two third tones occur together, the first is often pronounced like a second tone, as in 你好. Within many phrases, a third tone stays low without a full rise. Dictionary pinyin keeps the original tone marks.
一 and 不 also change tone depending on the following syllable. Listen to complete phrases, then compare your own recording in speaking practice.
Go to speaking practice →