How to pronounce
in Mandarin Chinese
lǎoThird tonebǎnThird tone
Hear it in conversation
shì是lǎo老bǎn板gěi给wǒ我men们de的yī一gè个fēi非cháng常xiǎo小de的
rú如guǒ果nǐ你xiàng向lǎo老bǎn板qǐng请jià假lǎo老bǎn板shuō说没wèn问tí题
If you ask your boss for leave, the boss says no problem
Select a word for its meaning.
See it in a sentence.
I'm the boss.
Where's the boss?
。
I regard him as the boss.
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.