Learn about the Mandarin tones
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: What are tones? |
| Dehua: And how many tones are there in Chinese? |
| Michael: At ChineseClass101.com, we hear these questions often. |
| Michael: Sasha Lee is reading in class with a classmate, Chenxin Chen, but she's not sure about a certain Chinese character. She asks Chenxin to confirm if she's reading it correctly: |
| "‘Younger sister,' right?" |
| 李 萨莎: "妹"，对吗？ ("Mèi," duì ma?) |
| Dialogue |
| 李 萨莎: "妹"，对吗？ ("Mèi," duì ma?) |
| 陈 晨欣: 不，是"没" 。 (Bù, shì "méi.") |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| 李 萨莎: "妹"，对吗？ ("Mèi," duì ma?) |
| Michael: "'Younger sister,' right?" |
| 陈 晨欣: 不，是"没" 。 (Bù, shì "méi.") |
| Michael: "No, it's 'not have.'" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Did you notice the difference in pronunciation between "younger sister" and "not have"? It's subtle, but it makes for two completely different characters. This subtle difference is in what we call tones, |
| Dehua: 声调 (shēngdiào). |
| Michael: There are five tones in Mandarin Chinese: the 1st tone, |
| Dehua: 第一声 (dì yī shēng), |
| Michael: the 2nd tone, |
| Dehua: 第二声 (dì èr shēng), |
| Michael: the 3rd tone, |
| Dehua: 第三声 (dì sān shēng), |
| Michael: the 4th tone, |
| Dehua: 第四声 (dì sì shēng), |
| Michael: and the neutral tone, |
| Dehua: 轻声 (qīngshēng). |
| Michael: In the conversation from the start of the lesson, Sasha read a character as |
| Dehua: 妹 (mèi). |
| Michael: This was said in the 4th tone, a falling tone. |
| Michael: Chenxin then corrected her and pronounced the character as |
| Dehua: 没 (méi). |
| Michael: This was said in the 2nd tone, a rising tone. |
| Michael: As you may have noticed, using the wrong tone can result in saying something completely different. |
| Let's look at an example using the characters from the conversation: |
| Dehua: 我没有钱。(Wǒ méi yǒu qián.) |
| Michael: This means, "I don't have money." |
| Michael: If the same sentence is said using Sasha's pronunciation, we would instead have, |
| Dehua: 我妹有钱。(Wǒ mèi yǒu qián.) |
| Michael: This means, "My younger sister has money." |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Sasha said, "'younger sister,' right?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Dehua: "妹"，对吗？ ("Mèi," duì ma?) |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now let's take a look at Chenxin's reply. |
| Do you remember how she said, "No, it's 'not have.'" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Dehua: 不，是"没" 。 (Bù, shì "méi.") |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the conversation in detail: I will say the English translation, and then you try to say the equivalent Chinese. Dehua will then model the correct answer and you can repeat after her, with the focus on your pronunciation. |
| How do you say, "younger sister, right?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: "妹"，对吗？ ("Mèi," duì ma?) |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen to Dehua again and repeat. |
| Dehua: "妹"，对吗？ ("Mèi," duì ma?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: "妹"，对吗？ ("Mèi," duì ma?) |
| Michael: Let's move on to the second sentence. How do you say, "No. it's 'not have.'" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 不，是"没" 。 (Bù, shì "méi.") |
| Michael: Did you get it right this time? Again, listen to Dehua and repeat. |
| Dehua: 不，是"没" 。 (Bù, shì "méi.") |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 不，是"没" 。 (Bù, shì "méi.") |
| Expansion |
| Michael: One way of mastering the tones is to repeatedly listen to them and practice saying them over and over again. With time, your brain learns the sound and you won't need much thought or effort to produce them. |
| Michael: Let's hear some characters with the 1st tone; note that this tone is high and steady: |
| Dehua: 妈 (mā), 中 (zhōng), 一 (yī). |
| Michael: Let's next hear some characters with the 2nd, rising, tone: |
| Dehua: 爷 (yé), 王 (wáng), 白 (bái). |
| Michael: Now let's hear some characters with the 3rd, dipping, tone; when said in isolation, this tone falls and then rises: |
| Dehua: 姐 (jiě), 你 (nǐ), 我 (wǒ). |
| Michael: And last, let's hear some characters with the 4th, falling, tone: |
| Dehua: 爸 (bà), 是 (shì), 爱 (ài). |
| Michael: As mentioned in the lesson, there is also a neutral tone, which is quite special. Some characters, that are usually pronounced with other tones, are pronounced with a neutral tone when combined with other characters to form a word. Common examples of this are found in the names for family members. |
| Michael: For instance, "mother" in Chinese is |
| Dehua: 妈妈 (mā ma). |
| Michael: The two characters are the same, but the first character is pronounced in the 1st tone, and the 2nd character is pronounced with the neutral tone. |
| Michael: "Paternal grandfather" in Chinese is |
| Dehua: 爷爷 (yé ye). |
| Michael: In this case, the first character is pronounced in the 2nd tone, and the second character is again pronounced with the neutral tone. |
| Michael: "Elder sister" in Chinese is |
| Dehua: 姐姐 (jiě jie). |
| Michael: The same pattern applies here as well. This word is a combination of the 3rd tone and the neutral tone. |
| Michael: Lastly, "father" in Chinese is |
| Dehua: 爸爸 (bà ba). |
| Michael: This is a combination of the 4th tone and the neutral tone. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Dehua: 再见！ (Zàijiàn!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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