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Mandarin has four tones plus a neutral tone. Getting them right is the difference between "mother" and "horse". This guide walks through each tone with native audio, visual tone shapes, and Pleco-style color cues — so you hear and see the difference before you ever try to speak.
5
Tones (4 + neutral)
Native
Audio on every word
AI
Pronunciation grading
Tones are the single feature of Mandarin that most beginners worry about, and the one most courses skim over. Mandarin is a tonal language: the same syllable spoken with a different pitch shape carries a different meaning. The classic example is mā 妈 ("mother"), má 麻 ("hemp"), mǎ 马 ("horse"), and mà 骂 ("scold") — same pinyin letters, four totally different words.
You have four tones plus a fifth "neutral" tone that has no fixed pitch shape. Once you train your ear and your mouth on these five shapes, the rest of Mandarin pronunciation becomes mechanical: consonants and vowels are mostly predictable from the pinyin spelling, and tone is the only thing you have to actively control.
On HSK Ace, every pinyin display uses the Pleco-style color palette — red for tone 1, orange for tone 2, green for tone 3, blue for tone 4, gray for neutral. The same colors appear in the free dictionary, in mock test review screens, in handwriting practice, and on landing pages like this one. The point is to give your eyes a second channel for tones, so you do not have to read tone marks character by character.
This page walks through each tone with a sample character, the pinyin, the meaning, and a note on what most learners get wrong. Tap any pinyin on the page to hear native audio. Then try the free Chinese dictionary search to look up your own examples, and use the free speaking-check tool to record yourself and get instant tone feedback.
A common mistake is to think tones are like English intonation ("that's a question?" vs "that's a fact."). They are not. In Mandarin, tone is part of the word itself, the way vowels are part of a word in English. Wrong tone = different word.
Standard Mandarin has four tones plus a neutral fifth — the same as the official HSK and HSKK exams use. Cantonese has more, but you do not need to worry about that for Mandarin. Learn five shapes and you have the whole inventory.
You do not need a high voice for tone 1 or a low voice for tone 3. What matters is the shape of the pitch contour — flat, rising, dipping, falling. Native speakers parse tones by shape, not by absolute frequency, so your natural voice works fine.
Each row uses the same syllable ma with a different tone. The pinyin is colored using the Pleco palette — the same colors used across the HSK Ace dictionary and handwriting practice.
High and level — like holding a flat musical note. Common mistake: starting too low and rising into it. Start high and hold steady.
Rising — like asking a sharp "huh?" in English. Common mistake: starting too high; you need room to rise. Start in the middle of your voice range.
Low-dipping or just low. Common mistake: drawing the full V every time. In normal speech, tone 3 is usually just "low and a bit gruff", and the rise only happens in citation form.
Tap any character to see its stroke order with native audio, or look it up in the free dictionary.
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Textbooks draw tone 3 as a V shape — going down then up. In real speech, tone 3 is usually just low. The full V only appears in slow, careful pronunciation or before a pause. Train both forms but expect the low form in normal conversation.
When two third-tone syllables sit next to each other, the first one becomes a rising tone. nǐ + hǎo → ní hǎo. The bù ("not") and yī ("one") syllables also shift tone depending on the next word. The rules are predictable — they become automatic with a few weeks of listening practice.
On HSK Ace, the AI pronunciation check compares your recording against the native target and flags tone errors per syllable — including small drift that human ears tune out. It is free for a daily quota; unlimited grading unlocks with a one-time Shells pack.
Sharp falling — like a firm "stop!" in English. Common mistake: too soft. Tone 4 should sound emphatic, almost like a small bark.
Neutral — light and short, no clear pitch shape. Used for grammar particles and the second syllable of many compound words. Common mistake: stressing it like a tone 1.
Want to record yourself and check your tones? Try the free AI speaking grading →
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| Stroke-order animation |
| AI speaking grading |
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Verified scores and notes from learners who used HSK Ace to build their Chinese foundation.
“Switched from a monthly app and never looked back. Buying Shells once felt like reclaiming my own pace.”
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