Chinese Tones

Chinese have four tones:

 1 is the low pitch

2 is the mid-low pitch

3 is the middle pitch

4 is the mid-high pitch

5 is the high pitch

First tone is high level tone, keep it at pitch 5.

Second tone is a rising tone, start at  3 rise to 5.

Third tone is falling and rising tone, start at 2, go down to 1 and then rise to 4.

Fourth tone is a falling tone, start at 5 and go down very fast to 1.

Neutral tone is pronounced weakly and short.

Tone change

When a third tone is followed by another third tone, the first one should be changes to the second tone.

e.g. Nĭ hăo! ® Ní hăo! (Hello!)

2. When the word bù is follow by another fourth tone, bù change to the second tone.

e.g. Bù shì. ® Bú shì. ( No or Not.)

3. When the word yī(one) is follow by the first, second and third tones, yī changes to the fourth tone.

e.g. yī tiān ® yì tiān ( one day )

       yī nián ® yì nián ( one year )

       yī diăn ® yì diăn ( one o’clock or one dot or a little bit )

When the word yī is follow by another fourth tone, yī change to the second tone.

e.g. yī bàn ® yí bàn ( half )