How to pronounce
in Mandarin Chinese
xiàFourth toneyǔThird tone
Hear it in conversation
nǐ你rú如guǒ果jīn今tiān天shì是xià下yǔ雨tiān天de的話
xià下yǔ雨 tiān天, bù不 xiǎng想 qí骑 zì自xíng行chē车
Select a word for its meaning.
See it in a sentence.
It is raining today.
,。
We will go whether it rains or not.
,。
Although it was raining, we still went.
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.