Learning

Mandarin Chinese

Begin your study of Mandarin Chinese
with the four tones. These are the
cornerstones to good pronunciation, and
once you have mastered them, everything
else will fall in place.

There are four Mandarin tones - high and
level; rising; falling and rising; and falling.
A syllable takes its meaning from both the
sound and tone. For example, the syllable
"ma" can mean "horse," "mother," "scold,"
or "hemp" depending on which tone is
used.

The Four Mandarin Tones

Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language. The
way a word or syllable is pronounced
changes its meaning. Mastery of the four

Mandarin tones is the essential first step

to learning this language.

You must be able to pronounce and
discern the four Mandarin tones.

The Mandarin Tone System

The Mandarin language has a
fundamental difference from Western
languages: it is tonal. Tones are one of the
biggest challenges for Mandarin learners,
but their mastery is essential. Incorrect
tones can make your spoken Mandarin
difficult or impossible to understand, but
using the correct tones will allow you to
express yourself clearly.

Mandarin tones are especially difficult for
speakers of Western languages. English,
for example, uses tones for inflection, but
this is a very different usage from
Mandarin. Rising tones in English often

imply a question or sarcasm. Falling tones

may be used for emphasis. Changing the
tones of a Mandarin sentence, though,
could completely change the meaning.

Lets take an example. Suppose you are
reading a book and your brother (or
sister or child) keeps on interrupting you.
You are likely to become exasperated and
say Im trying to read a book! In English,
this would be said with an emphatic
falling tone at the end.

But if you use a falling tone in Mandarin,
the meaning completely changes.

W yo kn sh = I want to read a book.
W yo kn sh = I want to cut trees!

The second version of this sentence
would have your listeners scratching
their heads.

So practice your tones! They are essential

for speaking and understanding
Mandarin.

The Four Tones of Mandarin

Mandarin uses four tones to clarify the
meanings of words. Since many
characters have the same sound, tones
are used to differentiate words from each
other.

The four tones in Mandarin are:

high level first tone
rising second tone
falling rising third tone
falling fourth tone

Pinyin (Pinyin is a Romanization system
used to learn Mandarin) uses either
numbers or tone marks to indicate the

tones. Here is the word ma with tone

marks:

First tone: ma1 or m
Second tone: ma2 or m
Third tone: ma3 or m
Fourth tone: ma4 or m

The tones are used to determine the
meaning of a Mandarin word. So m
(horse) is very different from m
(mother).

When learning new vocabulary you must
practice both the pronunciation of the
word and its tone. The wrong tones can
change the meaning of your sentences.

The Four Tones of Mandarin

Pinyin
Chinese
Character
m
mother

m
m
m

hemp
horse
scold

Note: Please check next lesson for audio
files. (In Class 1 - Basics)