Tone Change Rules in Mandarin Chinese

1. THIRD TONE
A third tone followed by another third tone changes to the second tone. If there are three or
more third tones in a row, change every other third tone before the last.
When followed by a first, second, fourth, or neutral tones, a third tone should change into a
half third tone (that is, a tone that falls and does not rise).
2. NEUTRAL TONE
The neutral tone,

when

following

the first, second and fourth tones

are

pronounced

low. However, when following the third tone, it is pronounced high.

3. NO and ONE
BU (meaning "no") is pronounced in the fourth tone when it stands alone.
It is also pronounced in the fourth tone when it precedes a first, second, or third tone. However, it
is pronounced in the second tone when it precedes a fourth tone.
YI (meaning "one") is pronounced in the first tone when it stands alone.
It is pronounced in the fourth tone when it precedes a first, second, or third tone. However, it is
pronounced in the second tone when it precedes a fourth tone.

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Importance of Tones
Chinese is a tonal language, i.e., a tones change the meanings of words. Since Mandarin has a
limited number of syllables, there are a lot of homophones whose meaning varies with the tone.
In the table shown, the syllable is ma but the tones are different for different words. In fact, we
can assemble the following sentence:
- mma m m ma?
Properly pronounced, the sentence translates into "Does Mamma scold the horse?"
Mandarin is normally said to have just four tones. However, there is also a neutral tone which
does not occur very often but is just as important. The tone is indicated by a tone mark placed on
top of the vowel, and in compound vowels it follows the hierarchy order, i.e. a,o,e. Therefore, in
the final ao the tone mark is placed on the vowel a, and in the final ou/uo, the tone mark is
placed on the vowel o, and on the last vowel in all other cases, i.e, on the vowel u when the final
is iu, or on the vowel i, when the final is ui. The neutral tone is indicated by the lack of tone
mark.

Tone

As in

Note

m Mom

starts high and stays there

m Hemp

starts at mid-range and ends high

m Horse

starts mid-range, dips low, ends mid-range

m Scold

starts high and ends low

Neutral ma question particle neutral tone

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Pinyin
Pinyin (Chinese: ), formally Hanyu Pinyin (), is the official phonetic system
for transcribing the Mandarin pronunciations ofChinese characters into the Latin
alphabet in China, Taiwan, andSingapore. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese and spell
Chinese names in foreign publications and may be used as an input method to enter Chinese
characters into computers.
The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s based on earlier forms ofromanization. It was
published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopted pinyin as the international standard in 1982. The
system was adopted as the official standard in Taiwan in 2009, where it is used for romanization
alone rather than for educational and computer input purposes.
Hny means the spoken language of the Han people and pnyn literally means "spelled-out
sounds".
Every Chinese syllable consists of an initial, a final and a tone mark. Initials are basically consonants,
whereas finals are vowels. In some cases a Chinese syllable may not have an initial, but there must
be a final. Tone marks are placed on the top of the finals. In Chinese Pinyin system there are 21
initials, and 2 semi vowels which are also used as initials. There are 36 finals, of which 6 are simple
or basic finals, others are compound finals.

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Initials
In Mandarin Chinese there are 21 initial sounds.

k
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zh

ch

sh

r
In addition, the semi-vowels y and w also function as initials.

b, p, m, f
Only the simple finals a, o, i, u and the compound finals that start with a, o, i, u can be combined
with b, p, m; only the simple finals a, o, u and the compound finals that start with a, o, u can be
combined with f.

Chinese
Initial

Description

It is produced by completely closing of two lips followed by

a sudden release of the air compressed in the mouth. The
vocal cords do not vibrate.
Quick sound produced at the front of the mouth unlike the
strong sound produced in English

English
Equivalent

boy

It is produced by a completely closing of two lips followed

by a strongly puffed air. This is aspirated.

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Chinese
Initial

Description

Same sound as in English, put with strong exhalation like a

puff of air

English
Equivalent
put

This is a nasal sound.

It is produced by pressing two lips and letting the breath out

through the nasal cavity with vibrating vocal cords.
Same sound as in English

mom

It is produced by upper teeth slightly touching the lower lip

and letting the breath out between them.
Same sound as in English

fall

d, t, n, l
Only the simple finals a, i, e ,u and the compound finals that start with a, i, e, u can be combined
with d, t, n, l; and simple finals and the compound finals that start with can be combined with
n, l.
Chinese
Initial

Description

English
Equivalent

It is produced by pressing the tip of the tongue against the

gum of the upper front teeth, then letting out the air from the
mouth with a strong pop.
Quick sound produced at the front of the mouth unlike the
strong sound produced in English

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Chinese
Initial

Description

English
Equivalent

It is produced by pressing the tip of the tongue against the

gum of the upper front teeth, then lowering it to give a sudden
release of the air already compressed in the mouth. The vocal
cords do not vibrate.

Same sound as in English, put with strong exhalation like a

puff of air

toy

This is a nasal sound.

It is produced by the tongue against the gum behind the upper

front teeth and letting the breath out through the nose and
half-open lips vibrating the vocal cords.
Same sound as in English
enjoy

This is a lateral sound.

It is produced by the tongue against the gum behind the upper

front teeth and letting the breath out through the sides of
tongue and half-open lips vibrating the vocal cords.
Same sound as in English
long

g, k, h
Only the simple finals a, e, u and the compound finals that start with a, e, u can be combined
with g, k, h.

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Chinese
Initial

Description

English
Equivalent

It is produced by raising the back of the tongue against the

soft palate and lowering it suddenly to let the air out with a
pop. The vocal cords do not vibrate.

g
Same sound as in English, but with no vibrations in the vocal
cords

go

It is produced by raising the back of the tongue against the

soft palate and lowering it suddenly to let the air out with a
pop. The vocal cords do not vibrate. This one is aspirated.

k
Same sound as in English, put with strong exhalation like a
puff of air

kite

It is produced by raising the back of the tongue against the

soft palate and lowering it suddenly to let the air out through
the channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate.
Aspirated sound.

h
When producing h, the back of the tongue is raised towards
the soft palate. The friction is noticeable. Audible and strong!

high

j, q, x
Only the simple finals i, and the compound finals that start with i, can be combined with j, q,
x. When j, q, x are combined with or a compound final starting with , the umlaut is omitted
and appears as u.
Chinese
Initial

Description

It is produced by raising the front of the tongue toward the

hard palate, pressing the tip of the tongue against the back of

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English
Equivalent

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Chinese
Initial

Description

English
Equivalent

the lower front teeth letting the air squeeze out through the
channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate.

Egypt

Same sound as in English with minimal exhalation

It is produced by raising the front of the tongue toward the

hard palate, pressing the tip of the tongue against the back of
the lower front teeth letting the air squeeze out through the
channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate. Aspirated.

No English
equivalent

Sounds like all these letters run together with no emphasis on

the first letter tchee

It is produced by raising the front of the tongue toward the

hard palate and letting the air squeeze out through the channel
thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate.

No English
equivalent

Sounds like the sh in English sheep, but there is no emphasis

on the first letter

z, c, s
The simple finals a, e, u and the compound finals that start with a, e, u can be combined with z,
c, s. The front apical vowel i (not the regular palatal high front vowel i) can also be combined
with z, c, s. In pronouncing the syllables zi, ci, si the tongue is held in the same position
throughout the syllable except that it is slightly relaxed as the articulation moves from the
voiceless initial consonant to the voiced vowel.
Chinese
Initial

Description

It is produced by pressing the tip of the tongue against

the back of the upper front teeth, then quickly lowering

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English Equivalent

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Chinese
Initial

Description

English Equivalent

it away to let the air squeeze out through the channel

thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate.
Sounds like the ds in English beds, but with no
exhalation!

It is produced in the same way as z, except that c is

produced with aspiration. The vocal cords do not
vibrate. This sound is aspirated.
Sounds like the ts in English hats. Similar to Pinyin z,
but with strong exhalation!

birds

No English
equivalent but it
sounds similar to
cats

It is produced by putting the tip of the tongue toward

the back of the lower teeth and letting the air squeeze
out from between the blade of the tongue and the upper
teeth.
Same sound as in English.

swim

zh, ch, sh, r

The simple finals a, e, u and the compound finals that start with a, e, u can be combined with zh,
ch, sh, r. The back apical vowel i can also be combined with zh, ch, sh, r. In pronouncing the
syllables zhi, chi, shi, ri the tongue is held in the same position throughout the syllable except
that it is slightly relaxed as the articulation moves from the voiceless initial consonant to the
voiced vowel.
Chinese
Initial

Description

zh

It is produced by turning up the tip of the tongue against the

hard palate, and letting the air squeeze out through the
channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate.

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English
Equivalent

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Chinese
Initial

Description

In this sound, the tongue is thrown forward from the curled

back position.

ch

Church

It is produced by turning up the tip of the tongue against the

hard palate, and letting the air squeeze out through the
channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate.
The tongue is thrown forward from the curled back position.

George

It is produced by turning up the tip of the tongue against the

hard palate, and letting the air squeeze out through the
channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate. This
sound is aspirated.
In this sound, the tongue is thrown forward from the curled
back position.

sh

English
Equivalent

Dish

It is produced by turning up the tip of the tongue against the

hard palate, and letting the air squeeze out through the
channel thus made. The vocal cords vibrate.
This sound is pronounced with the tongue vibrating in the
curled back position.

Pleasure

w, y
w: Produce in the same manner as in English. Special case: the syllable wu is pronounced as the
Pinyin u (the letter w is in this case used to mark the beginning of a new syllable.

y: Produced in the same manner as in English. Special cases: the syllable yi is pronounced as the
Pinyin i #1 and the syllable yu is pronounced as the Pinyin (the letter y is in these cases used to
mark the beginning of new syllables).

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Finals (simple/basic finals)

Open your mouth wide, with your tongue in the middle in a

low position; the lips are naturally opened.

Half-close your mouth with the tongue in a half-high

position; draw back your tongue and make your lips
round-shaped.

After pronouncing "o", naturally open up your mouth and

keep the tongue's position unchanged.

When pronoucing "i", the tongue is in the highest

position, the mouth is slightly opened and the lips are flatshaped. Stretch forward your tongue, put it against the
back of the lower teeth and open up your lips

When pronoucing "u", the tongue is in the highest position

and the mouth is slightly opened. Make your lips roundshaped, draw back your tongue and make the tongue root
approach the soft palate.

After pronoucing "i", just make your lips round-shaped to

pronounce "", with the tongue position unchanged.

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