Chinese Four Tones Plus Neutral: Complete Tonal Reference

Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language. Every syllable carries a tone, and the tone is as essential to the word as any vowel or consonant. The syllable "ma" can mean "mother" (mā, first tone), "hemp" (má, second tone), "horse" (mǎ, third tone), or "to scold" (mà, fourth tone), depending solely on the melodic contour placed on it.

Swap the tone and you swap the word. A fifth tone - the neutral tone - has no pitch of its own and simply rides on the tones around it. Learning to hear, produce, and read the four-plus-one tone system is the foundational task of any Mandarin learner.

This reference describes each tone with its pitch contour, notation, common mistakes, and the tone sandhi rules that modify tones in certain combinations. For the broader pinyin phonetic system, see the pinyin complete guide. For the character-writing system, see the Chinese characters and radicals guide. For basic grammar in which these syllables live, see the Chinese grammar rules guide.

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The Four Basic Tones

Table 1. The four Mandarin tones.

Tone	Name	Contour (5-scale)	Pinyin mark	Description
1	High level	55	ā	High, flat, sustained
2	Rising	35	á	Mid rising to high
3	Dipping (falling-rising)	214	ǎ	Falls then rises
4	Falling	51	à	High falling to low
Neutral	(no fixed pitch)	-	a	Short, unstressed

The Chao numerical system describes pitch on a 1-5 scale (1 lowest, 5 highest). Tone 1 stays at 5; tone 2 starts at 3 and rises to 5; tone 3 dips from 2 to 1 to 4; tone 4 falls from 5 to 1.

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Detailed Description of Each Tone

Tone 1 (高平, gāo píng)

A level, high-pitched sustain. Imagine saying "aaa" for a doctor examining your throat, or an operatic "ah" held at a steady note. The pitch does not rise, fall, or waver.

• mā 妈 (mother)
• shū 书 (book)
• gāo 高 (tall)

Common mistake: letting the tone sag at the end. Keep it flat throughout.

Tone 2 (阳平, yáng píng)

A rising tone, like the intonation of a question in English ("What?"). Starts at mid-pitch and climbs to high.

• má 麻 (hemp)
• míng 明 (bright)
• rén 人 (person)

Common mistake: starting too high and failing to rise enough. The motion upward is essential.

Tone 3 (上声, shǎng shēng)

A dipping tone: it starts mid-low, drops, then rises. In citation form (the tone said alone) the rise is prominent. In running speech the rise is often reduced, and the tone sounds mostly low ("half third tone").

• mǎ 马 (horse)
• wǒ 我 (I)
• hǎo 好 (good; 你好 nǐ hǎo, hello)

Common mistake: overemphasizing the rise in running speech. Most full third tones in sentences sound "low and flat"; the rise appears only at the very end of a phrase or when said alone.

Tone 4 (去声, qù shēng)

A sharp fall from high to low. Short, emphatic. Similar to an English exclamation "No!" said curtly.

• mà 骂 (to scold)
• bù 不 (not)
• dà 大 (big)

Common mistake: making it sound angry. It is merely steep, not aggressive.

Neutral Tone (轻声, qīng shēng)

A short, unstressed syllable with no fixed pitch. Its actual pitch depends on the tone of the preceding syllable:

• After tone 1: mid pitch (mā ma 妈妈 has second ma mid)
• After tone 2: middle-high (yé ye 爷爷)
• After tone 3: half-high (jiě jie 姐姐)
• After tone 4: low (dì di 弟弟)

The neutral tone appears in:

• Grammatical particles: 的 de, 了 le, 吗 ma, 呢 ne
• Family terms repeated: 妈妈 māma (mama), 爸爸 bàba (papa)
• Some compound words: 东西 dōngxi (thing), 朋友 péngyou (friend)

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Tone Sandhi Rules

Tones do not always keep their citation form in connected speech. Several systematic changes, called tone sandhi, occur.

Rule 1: Third-Tone Sandhi

When two third tones appear together, the first changes to second tone:

• 你好 nǐ hǎo (hello) is actually pronounced ní hǎo.
• 很好 hěn hǎo (very good) is pronounced hén hǎo.
• 我很好 wǒ hěn hǎo (I'm fine) - actually: wó hén hǎo (first 3 becomes 2, second 3 becomes 2, third stays 3).

The original tone marks are written as though unchanged; the change is a pronunciation rule.

Rule 2: Half Third Tone

A third tone followed by any non-third tone is pronounced as a low, flat half-third, losing its rising portion.

• 北京 Běijīng - the first syllable is a low flat "Bei," not the full dip.
• 好吃 hǎo chī (delicious) - "hao" is low-flat before the first tone.

Rule 3: The bu (不) Tone Change

不 bù (not) is normally fourth tone. Before another fourth tone, it changes to second tone: bú.

• 不是 bú shì (is not) - changes from bù to rising bú because shì is fourth tone.
• 不对 bù duì (not right) - bú duì.
• 不来 bù lái - stays bù (lái is second tone).
• 不喝 bù hē - stays bù (hē is first tone).

Only before a fourth tone does bu change to bú.

Rule 4: The yi (一) Tone Change

一 yī (one) has three forms depending on environment:

• Before pause (counting): yī (first tone).
• Before fourth tone: yí (second tone). Example: 一个 yí ge, 一样 yíyàng.
• Before first, second, third tones: yì (fourth tone). Example: 一张 yì zhāng, 一年 yì nián, 一本 yì běn.

Rule 5: Half-Fourth Tone

A sequence of two fourth tones sometimes lightens the first fourth, pronouncing it from high to mid rather than high to low. This is subtle and not always marked.

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Tone Pairs Practice

Learning tone pairs (two syllables together) is usually more productive than single tones. Here are the 20 productive pairs with examples:

Table 2. Two-syllable tone combinations with examples.

1st tone	Combined	Pinyin	Example	Meaning
1+1	high level twice	zhōng guó	中国	China
1+2	level then rising	zhōng wén	中文	Chinese (language)
1+3	level then dipping	jīng lǐ	经理	manager
1+4	level then falling	gāo xìng	高兴	happy
1+0	level + neutral	māma	妈妈	mother
2+1	rising + level	míng tiān	明天	tomorrow
2+2	rising + rising	yín háng	银行	bank
2+3	rising + dipping	xué hǎo	学好	to learn well
2+4	rising + falling	xué xiào	学校	school
2+0	rising + neutral	péng you	朋友	friend
3+1	dipping + level	lǎo shī	老师	teacher
3+2	dipping + rising	měi guó	美国	America (3+2: měi is pronounced as a half-third tone, then guó rises)
3+3	2+3 (sandhi)	nǐ hǎo (ní hǎo)	你好	hello
3+4	dipping + falling	xiǎng yào	想要	want
3+0	dipping + neutral	jiě jie	姐姐	older sister
4+1	falling + level	zài jiā	在家	at home
4+2	falling + rising	zài lái	再来	come again
4+3	falling + dipping	diàn nǎo	电脑	computer
4+4	falling + falling	zài jiàn	再见	goodbye
4+0	falling + neutral	bà ba	爸爸	father

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Common Mistakes English Speakers Make

1. Treating tones as optional. A word without a tone is not the word; it is a different word or no word at all.
2. Confusing tone 2 and tone 3. Tone 2 rises steadily; tone 3 dips then rises. In running speech the dip can be the key distinction.
3. Over-exaggerating tone 4. It should be sharp and short, not shouted.
4. Ignoring tone sandhi. Writing nǐ hǎo but not saying ní hǎo marks a non-native speaker.
5. Applying English intonation. English sentence-level pitch (rising for questions, falling for statements) conflicts with Chinese word-tone pitch.
6. Over-stressing the neutral tone. The second syllable of 妈妈 should be light and short, not as strong as the first.
7. Forgetting bu and yi tone changes. Writing bù shì but pronouncing bù shì (instead of bú shì) is a tone error.
8. Skipping tone practice in multisyllable words. Always practice words, not just single syllables.

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Quick Reference

• Tone 1: high, flat, sustained (55)
• Tone 2: rising (35)
• Tone 3: dipping (214) in isolation, low (21) before non-3
• Tone 4: falling (51)
• Neutral: short, unstressed, pitch determined by preceding tone

Sandhi rules:

• 3+3 → 2+3
• bù (4) before 4 → bú (2)
• yī (1) before 4 → yí (2); before 1/2/3 → yì (4)

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See Also

• Pinyin complete guide
• Chinese tones complete guide
• Chinese characters and radicals guide
• Chinese grammar rules complete beginners guide
• Chinese measure words guide
• Chinese measure words classifiers reference
• Chinese sentence particles reference
• Chinese radicals 214 Kangxi reference