How to pronounce
in Mandarin Chinese
láiSecond tone
Hear it in conversation
Whether this person came to work or not
xiān先lái来kāi开huǒ火
Let's start the fire
wǒ我xiàn现zài在shēng升qǐ起lái来le了
'm rising now
Select a word for its meaning.
See it in a sentence.
Are you coming?
He is coming tomorrow.
。
My friend is coming to my house tomorrow.
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.