聲調
The five tones
Mandarin has four tones plus a neutral tone. Zhuyin marks them with small symbols placed after the syllable — except the first tone, which is left unmarked, and the neutral tone, whose dot goes in front. This is the opposite of pinyin, which always marks the first tone and never marks the neutral one.
The five tones at a glance
| Tone | Zhuyin mark | Pinyin mark | Example | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First toneHigh level | (no mark) | ā | 媽ㄇㄚmāMother | High and flat, held steady like a sung note. In zhuyin the first tone is written with no mark at all. |
| Second toneRising | ˊ | á | 麻ㄇㄚˊmáHemp | Rises from mid to high, like the way an English speaker says "What?" in surprise. |
| Third toneDipping | ˇ | ǎ | 馬ㄇㄚˇmǎHorse | Dips down low and then rises again. In natural speech it usually just stays low. |
| Fourth toneFalling | ˋ | à | 罵ㄇㄚˋmàTo scold | Drops sharply from high to low, like a firm command: "Stop!" |
| Neutral toneLight | ˙ | a | 嗎˙ㄇㄚmaQuestion particle | Short, light and unstressed. Zhuyin writes the dot before the syllable; pinyin writes no mark at all. |
One syllable, five meanings
The classic demonstration: the same sound ma, said five ways, is five different words.
- 媽ㄇㄚmāMother
- 麻ㄇㄚˊmáHemp
- 馬ㄇㄚˇmǎHorse
- 罵ㄇㄚˋmàTo scold
- 嗎˙ㄇㄚmaQuestion particle
How zhuyin tone marks differ from pinyin
- The first tone has no mark in zhuyin. In pinyin it is written ā.
- The neutral tone dot goes before the syllable in zhuyin (˙ㄇㄚ), but is simply left off in pinyin (ma).
- Zhuyin marks sit after the last symbol rather than on top of a vowel, so they never change the letters underneath.