How to pronounce
in Mandarin Chinese
tūFirst toneránSecond tone
Hear it in conversation
Your room suddenly looks terrible.
這時,xiǎo小花cái才tū突rán然xiǎng想qǐ起,
At this moment, Xiao Hua suddenly remembered that she hadn't completed the task assigned by her boss! This is not good...
wǒ我tū突rán然xiǎng想dào到yī一gè个dōng东xi西
I just suddenly thought of something
Select a word for its meaning.
See it in a sentence.
Suddenly, the light went out.
They burst into tears.
All at once, he spoke 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.