How to pronounce
in Mandarin Chinese
shìFourth tonejìFourth tone
Hear it in conversation
shàng上shì世jì纪60nián年dài代
In the 1960s,
zé则shì是zài在 18 shì世jì纪dào到 19 shì世jì纪cái才fā发shēng生de的shì事
Select a word for its meaning.
See it in a sentence.
。
A hundred years is called a century.
。
A century is one hundred years.
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.