How to pronounce
in Mandarin Chinese
fāFirst toneshēngFirst tone
Hear it in conversation
shì是gāng刚cái才yǐ已jīng经fā发shēng生de的shì事qing情
It is something that has already happened
tā他men们fā发shēng生le了hěn很dà大de的biàn变huà化
there have been big changes.
Select a word for its meaning.
See it in a sentence.
Accidents happen.
Where did it happen?
。
An accident happened.
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.