The tones of Putonghua

In Putonghua , most words are pronounced with one of four tones. (Some unaccented syllables are also pronounced with a "light" tone - more about this later. )Tones 1,2, and 4 are relatively straightforward, so not too much need be said about them. Tone 3 changes according to what follows it, so will require greater elaboration. Let's look at them one by one:

Tone 1

Tone # 1 is a high level pitch, like singing a long high note.

Tone 2

Tone # 2 is a rising tone, like the word "yes" used as a question in answering the door: "Yes?"

Tone 3

Tone :# 3 is usually described as a "falling-rising" tone, and this is what it sounds like when a word is pronounced in isolation or at the end of a sentence. However, you will find that if another word follows a Tone 3 word, it becomes a little cumbersome to do a complete fall + rise. Thus, one of two things happens.

Usually if a Tone 3 word is followed by another word the rising part drops off and it becomes just a lowfalling tone (something like the intonation of a reflective "Hmrnm" ). A good example phrase is hen kuai ( very fast) .

But (and here is the tricky part) , when one Tone 3 word is followed by another Tone 3 word, the tone of the first word changes to a rising tone (just like Tone 2). Essentially, it is the initial falling part of the tone Tone 3 (followed by another Tone 3) which is now omitted. Agood example phrase for this is hen hao (very good).

Tone 4

Tone # 4 is a falling tone, like an enthusiastic affirmation: "Yes! "

" Light" tones

Some unaccented syllables are pronounced with a "light" tone. The simplest way to deal with these is to pronounce them in the middle of your voice range-somewhere around 3 on the charts above - lightly and with little emphasis. (When written in Pinyin in Chinese language textbooks like this one, these syllables have no tone mark over them. )