Hear and practise the four tones

A purchase changes with its tone

At a market, to buy买mǎi mǎi means buy and to sell卖mài mài means sell. The initial and final are the same; the tone changes the word. Practise the contrast before putting it into a longer sentence.

Four tones and a light syllable

Tone	Basic practice shape	Example
First	high and level	ma妈mā mā, mother
Second	rising	generic name for hemp, flax…麻má má, hemp
Third	low; a full dip and rise when practised alone	horse马mǎ mǎ, horse
Fourth	falling	variant of 骂骂mà mà, scold
Neutral	short and unstressed; pitch depends on context	the second ma in mama妈妈mā mā māma

The diagram is a practice guide, not a fixed musical score. Speakers have different pitch ranges. Third tone often stays low before another syllable; do not force a full rise into every word. An English question intonation is not a reliable substitute for Mandarin second tone.

Put the mark on the right vowel

Use this spelling procedure: mark a if present; otherwise mark e; in ou mark o; in other multi-vowel finals mark the last vowel. Examples: hǎo, xiè, dōu, liù, shuǐ. A marked i loses its dot, as in nǐ. A neutral syllable has no tone mark.

For practice, match numbered forms to marks: ma1 → mā; ma2 → má; ma3 → mǎ; ma4 → mà. Numbers are a study notation; a normal pinyin input method usually takes unmarked letters.

Compare one feature at a time

Start with mǎi / mài: buy / sell. Then try four四sì sì, four, and ten十shí shí, ten. The second pair changes both the initial and the tone, so a mistake cannot automatically be blamed on tone alone.

Say 我要wǒ yàoto buy买mǎibook书shū。Wǒ yào mǎi shū. I want to buy books. Then he / him他tā卖书mài shū。Tā mài shū. He sells books. Keep the word's tone while speaking the whole message. Use a recording or teacher feedback for sound; use the answer key for spelling and meaning.

A fresh situation

R1. Interpret and repair. A classmate writes shǔi and lìu. Correct both marks and explain the choice.

R2. Use it yourself. Write the marked forms of hao3, xie4 and dou1, then state the meaning difference between mai3 and mai4.

Write your responses before opening the key. Compare meaning as well as form; a different valid answer need not copy the model.