How to pronounce
in Mandarin Chinese
yáSecond tone
Hear it in conversation
wǒ我xǐ洗le了liǎn脸,shuā刷le了yá牙,
I washed my face, brushed my teeth,
wǒ我xiàn现zài在yǐ已jīng经shuā刷hǎo好le了yá牙yǐ已jīng经shuā刷hǎo好le了yá牙
I'm done brushing now.
Select a word for its meaning.
See it in a sentence.
Bite the bullet.
Which tooth hurts?
My front teeth stick out.
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.