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Mandarin Chinese has 4 tones. These are a central part of the pronunciation, just like vowels and consonants. Pronouncing the wrong tone (or ignoring the tones completely) will at best make you sound very foreign, and at worst can cause significant misunderstanding. Let's have a closer look.
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Tone 1 (yīshēng) is high and level. It should be pronounced in as high a pitch as you would naturally use when speaking. It doesn't have to be an exact pitch, just high compared to the rest of your speech. It is marked in pinyin using a macron (¯), which conveniently prompts you it should be pronounced in a level tone. On a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is highest and 1 is lowest, this tone is pronounced "5-5" (starts at the highest pitch and ends at the same pitch).
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Here are some common words where both characters are pronounced as tone 1. The meaning isn't important, just focus on the pronunciation.
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The word for "taxi driver" is made up of 5 consecutive tone 1s. Note how it is completely monotone. Chūzūchē means taxi, and sījī means driver.
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Tone 2 (èrshēng) is a rising tone, rising from mid to high (3-5 on the numerical scale). It should rise up to the same pitch as you use for tone 1. Note that it is mid to high, not low to high, so there is no need for anything too exaggerated. In pinyin it is marked using an acute accent (´), which once again is a helpful prompt.
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Here are some common tone 2-tone 2 combinations.
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Here are some tone 2-tone 1 combinations. In everyday speech, tones are rarely pronounced in isolation. The majority of the time they are pronounced as part of a 2 syllable pair, so practicing these is more useful than practicing single tones.
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And then some tone 1-tone 2 combinations.
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Tone 3 (sānshēng) is the most complex by far. When pronounced in isolation it starts low and dips, before rising again (2-1-4). In pinyin this tone is marked with a caron (ˇ).
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Here are examples of tone 3 pronounced in isolation. Note the distinct dip and rise. While the other tones largely remain constant, the pronunciation of tone 3 varies heavily depending on what follows it. This is covered in detail in the next lesson, for now we'll move on to tone 4.
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Tone 4 (sìshēng) falls sharply from high to low (5-1). In pinyin this tone is marked with a grave accent (`).
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A few examples in isolation.
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Tone 4-tone 1 combinations.
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Tone 1-tone 4 combinations.
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Tone 4-tone 2 combinations.
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Tone 2-tone 4 combinations.
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Tone 4-tone 4 combinations. Note that in such cases the first tone only drops to a mid pitch (5-3 followed by 5-1). This makes this combination sound less harsh than if they were both pronounced in full.
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In addition to the 4 main tones there is also a neutral tone. In Chinese this is known as the qīngshēng, or "light tone". Here are examples of a neutral tone following tone 1. Notice how it is short, unstressed and lower than tone 1 (usually pronounced somewhere around 2 or 3 on the numerical scale).
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Neutral tone following tone 2.
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Neutral tone following tone 4. Tone 3 + neutral tone is covered in the next lesson.
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To finish, let's looks at examples of words that have identical pronunciations but different tones. Compare gàosu (tell) and gāosù (high-speed)
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Hànyǔ (Chinese language) and Hányǔ (Korean language)
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mǎi (buy) and mài (sell)
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bú duì (incorrect, wrong) and bùduì (army, troops)
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chāoshì (supermarket), cháoshī (humid) and chāoshí (exceed a time limit)
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