Mandarin One (Traditional)/Lesson One 第一課

Tones (音調)

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Relative pitch changes of the four tones


Labeled with normal pitch levels used (1=Lowest - 5=Highest)

  1. High flat (mā) - Pitch: 5-5. Similar to reciting the alphabet at a high even pitch.
  2. High Rising (má) - Pitch: 3-5. Similar to the last syllable in a question ("What?") in English.
  3. Low Droppping and Rising (mǎ) - Pitch: 2-1-4. Similar to expressing disbelief ("Huh?!") in English.
  4. Sharply Dropping (mà) - Pitch: 5-1. Similar to the last syllable of a sharp, angry command ("Don't you dare!") in English.
  5. Neutral (ma -Note that only the second syllable is of neutral tone, the first one is of high flat) (tone varies on the spreading out the preceding syllable) - See the table below for for the pitch range.

The previous examples are 1. mother(媽), 2.hemp(麻), 3. horse (馬), 4. "admonish" or scold(罵), and 5. a question particle 嗎.

Neutral tone range
Tone of the first syllabel Pitch of the neutral tone Example Zhuyin Pinyin Meaning
1 2 玻璃 ㄅㄛ ㄌㄧ˙ bō li glass
2 3 伯伯 ㄅㄛˊ ㄅㄛ˙ bó bo uncle
3 4 喇叭 ㄌㄚˇ ㄅㄚ˙ lă ba horn
4 1 兔子 ㄊㄨˋ ㄗ˙ tù zi rabbit

Zhuyin (注音)

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Zhuyin is system for type characters on keyboard and phonetick system for transcription.

Zhuyin consonants
Zhuyin IPA Pinyin Example
p b

ㄅㄠ

p

ㄆㄨ

m m

ㄇㄧˊ

f f

ㄈㄟˇ

t d

ㄉㄧˋ

t

ㄊㄧˊ

n n

ㄋㄧˇ

l l

ㄌㄧˋ

k g

ㄍㄠˋ

k

ㄎㄠˇ

x h

ㄏㄠˇ

j

ㄐㄧㄠˋ

tɕʰ q

ㄑㄧㄠˇ

ɕ x

ㄒㄧㄠˇ

ʈʂ zhi, zh

ㄓㄨˇ

ʈʂʰ chi, ch

ㄔㄨ

ʂ shi, sh

ㄕˋ

ɻ~ʐ ri, r

ㄖㄨˋ

ts zi, z

ㄗˋ

tsʰ ci, c

ㄘˊ

s si, s

ㄙˋ