{"id":9862,"date":"2019-11-21T19:03:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T19:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/?p=9862"},"modified":"2019-11-22T01:53:58","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T01:53:58","slug":"learn-chinese-pinyin-in-21-days-day-19-tones-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/my\/learn-chinese-pinyin-in-21-days-day-19-tones-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn Chinese Pinyin in 21 Days \u2013 Day 19: Tones Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In Chinese it is always very im<\/em>portant to pro<\/em>nounce characters and words with correct tone. In transliterated Chinese, tone markings are written over the central vowels in most syllables. Some syllables have no specific tone, and then no sign is put above any vowel, or called neutral tone. In Mandarin Chinese there are four to<\/em>nes and a neutral tone.<\/p>\n

To<\/em>nes Marks<\/h3>\n
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  • The 1st tone, flat tone is marked with a line over a vowel such as “a” + “-” = “\u0101”.<\/li>\n
  • The 2nd tone, rising tone is marked with a rising line over a vowel such as “a” + “´” = “á”.<\/li>\n
  • The 3rd tone, falling-rising tone is marked with a hook over a vowel such as “a” + “v” = “\u0103”.<\/li>\n
  • The 4th tone, falling tone is marked with a falling line over a vowel such as “a” + “`” = “à”.<\/li>\n
  • For neutral tone also called to<\/em>neless tone (called “light tone” in Chinese), no marking is put above any vowel. For example, “a” + ” ” = “a”.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Rules of To<\/em>nes Marks<\/h3>\n

    As a general rule, you should always put tone marks over finals such as, a, o, e, i, u, ü; not over initials.<\/p>\n

    Tone Mark Placement<\/h3>\n

    1. The tone mark is placed over the vowel if there is o<\/em>nly one vowel letter.
    tù, là, dè<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    If there is more than one vowel:<\/strong>
    2. If there is an ”a”, the tone will be always put over “a”.
    k\u01cei, chuán, zhu\u0101ng<\/p>\n

    3. If there is no “a”, he tone will be put over “o” or “e”. The tone will be put over the second vowel in other cases.
    qióng, h\u0113i,\tQiú, tu\u012b<\/p>\n

    4. When the tone mark is place on i, the small dot is removed.
    yí, bín, gu\u012b<\/p>\n

    Sequences of Tones<\/h3>\n

    When we pro<\/em>nounce a sequence of tones, the to<\/em>nes will not always remain the same. The most common o<\/em>nes are as the following:<\/p>\n

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    • The Chinese character, “\u4e00”, ” y\u012b ” (English translation: one) is usually pro<\/em>nounced as 1st tone. However it will be pro<\/em>nounced with 2nd tone when directly preceding a 4th tone. Example: “\u4e00\u4e2a” is pro<\/em>nounced as ” yí gè “. It will be pro<\/em>nounced with 4th tone when directly preceding a 2nd tone or 3rd tone.
      Example: “\u4e00\u672c” is pro<\/em>nounced as ” yì b\u011bn “.<\/li>\n
    • The Chinese character, “\u4e0d” ” bù ” (English translation: not) is usually pro<\/em>nounced as 4th tone. However it will be pro<\/em>nounced with 2nd tone when directly preceding a 4th tone.
      Example: “\u4e0d\u662f” (English translation: is not) is pro<\/em>nounced as ” bú shì “.<\/li>\n
    • When a syllable that is usually pro<\/em>nounced with 3rd tone, will turn into 2nd tone when directly preceding another 3rd tone. This rule will apply for entire sequences of words!
      Example: “\u4e24”( li\u01ceng ), “\u4e24\u672c\u4e66” (English translation: two books) is pro<\/em>nounced as “liáng b\u011bn sh\u016b “.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n