Chinese language

• Home
• Chinese Dictionary
• Learn Chinese
• Chinese resource
• Chinese Culture
• Chinese Festival
• Chinese Textbooks
• Deadly Earthquake
• Nihao Chinese Program
• Chinese Summer Parade
• Chinese New Year 2008
• Newsletter_ECL

Chinese Four Tones

Each Chinese character has one vowel, and each vowel, in turn, has a tone with it.  Many characters should have different tones for different meanings, but most have unique tones in all situations.

There are 5 possible tones: 4 major tones and a "light" tone.  Conventionally, the major tones are labeled as following.

Tone 1: flat

Tone 2: up

Tone 3: curve

Tone 4: down

The 5th tone is called "light" tone, which has no number as label.  Characters with light tone should be pronounced light and fast, the only exceptions to the previous rule that all characters in a sentence lasts about the same long.

It is important to remember that Chinese character’s tone has nothing to do with its meaning.

From:www.zapChinese.com

Learn more about Chinese phonology with professional and native Chinese teachers from eChineseLearning.