声 调 Tones

汉语一个音节的组成成分，除了声母和韵母外，还有声调。声调一共有四个，即：

Among the components of a Chinese syllable, there is the tone besides the initial and the final .Altogether there are four tones:

第一声   the first tone	高调  the high tone
第二声     the second tone	升调  the rising tone
第三声   the third tone	低调  the low tone
第四声  the fourth tone	降调  the falling tone

 

书写时分别用ˉ、ˊ、ˇ、ˋ四种调号标在音节的主要元音(即开口度大、最响的音)上， 如：

In writing, we use the tone marks ˉ,ˊ,ˇ,ˋ on the main vowel (the one pronounced the loudest and with the mouth widest open), g .

m m m m	(mother, hemp, horse, to curse)
i i i i	(dust, cancer, dwarf, love)
qi ng qi ng qi ng qi ng	(pistol, wall, to snatch, to irritate respiratory organs)
tū tú tǔ tù	(to push, dispirited, leg, to retreat)

一个音节的声母、韵母相同，声调不同，意思往往不同。

Syllables with same initials and finals but in different tones usually have different meanings .

声调是指物理上所谓音高的高低升降。如果用一条直线代表说话时的音高变动范围，把直线分成四格五点，由下向上的1、2、3、4、5就表示低、半低、中、半高、高。如下图：

The tone is the variation of one s pitch . If we draw a vertical line to represent the range of the variation of one s pitch and divide it into four equal parts from the low end upward with five points, then 1, 2,3, 4, 5 represent the low, middleHow, middle, middle-high and high pitch respectively . See the chart below:

5 高    high

4 半高  middle-high

3 中    middle

2 半低  middle-low

1 低 low