Mandarin One (Traditional)/Lesson One 第一課

Tones (音調)


Labeled with normal pitch levels used (1=Lowest - 5=Highest)


 * 1) High flat (mā) - Pitch: 5-5. Similar to reciting the alphabet at a high even pitch.
 * 2) High Rising (má) - Pitch: 3-5. Similar to the last syllable in a question ("What?") in English.
 * 3) Low Droppping and Rising (mǎ) - Pitch: 2-1-4. Similar to expressing disbelief ("Huh?!") in English.
 * 4) Sharply Dropping (mà) - Pitch: 5-1. Similar to the last syllable of a sharp, angry command ("Don't you dare!") in English.
 * 5) Neutral (ma -Note that only the second syllable is of neutral tone, the first one is of high flat) (tone varies on the spreading out the preceding syllable) - See the table below for for the pitch range.

The previous examples are 1. mother（媽）, 2.hemp（麻）， 3. horse （馬）, 4. "admonish" or scold(罵）, and 5. a question particle 嗎.

Zhuyin (注音)
Zhuyin is system for type characters on keyboard and phonetick system for transcription.