How to pronounce
in Mandarin Chinese
ǒuThird toneěrThird tone
Hear it in conversation
ér而nǐ你ǒu偶ěr尔mǎi买yī一gè个hěn很lǎo老de的xiǎo小dōng东xi西
xiàn现zài在yǒu有de的shí时hou候yě也ǒu偶ěr尔huì会lián联xì系
Even now we sometimes still talk occasionally
Select a word for its meaning.
See it in a sentence.
I seldom do that.
He is sometimes absent from school.
Hear the difference
A syllable has a shape.
Tone marks show how pitch changes. Colors help you follow each syllable in the app.
ā →First toneHigh and level
á ↗Second toneRising
ǎ ↘↗Third toneLow, then rising in isolation
à ↘Fourth toneFalling
a ·Neutral toneShort and light
These are dictionary tones. In natural speech, tones can change with context. A third tone often stays low before another syllable.