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HanCam · Free pinyin tool
Chinese tones: the four tones of Mandarin
Type pinyin with tone numbers and get tone marks, or turn tone marks back into numbers. Below the typer: what the four tones are, how they sound and where the mark goes.
Result
Type pinyin with tone numbers, for example ni3 hao3. The tone marks appear here.
A 5 or a 0 after a syllable means the neutral tone and leaves it without a mark. For ü type v, ü or u followed by a colon: lv4 and lü4 both give lǜ.
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The four tones of Mandarin
Mandarin is a tonal language: the pitch of a syllable is part of the word. The same syllable with another tone is another word, written with another character. Standard Mandarin has four tones and a short, unstressed neutral tone.
Your browser has no Chinese voice of its own, so the listen buttons stay silent here. iPhone, iPad and Mac have one built in. On other devices a Chinese voice can be added in the speech settings of the system.
Pitch is described on a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high). The 1st tone stays at 5. The 2nd rises from 3 to 5, like the voice at the end of an English question. The 3rd starts at 2, drops to 1 and can rise to 4; in running speech it mostly just stays low. The 4th falls from 5 to 1, like a firm “No!”.
The neutral tone
Some syllables are said short and light, without a tone of their own: the particles 吗 ma, 的 de and 了 le, and the second syllable of words such as 妈妈 māma and 谢谢 xièxie. Pinyin writes them without a mark. With tone numbers the neutral tone is 5 or 0, or no number at all.
Where the tone mark goes
The mark sits on a vowel. Three rules cover every syllable:
- If the syllable has an a or an e, that letter takes the mark: hǎo, xiè, guài.
- In ou the mark goes on the o: gǒu, dōu.
- Otherwise the mark goes on the last vowel: guì, liú, xióng, lǜ.
The typer on this page follows these rules: ni3 hao3 becomes nǐ hǎo and liu2 becomes liú. The letter ü keeps its dots under the mark, as in lǜ and nǚ.
Tones that change in speech
Three changes belong to standard pronunciation. They are spoken, and mostly not written:
- Two 3rd tones in a row: the first is said as a 2nd tone. 你好 is written nǐ hǎo and said ní hǎo.
- 不 bù becomes bú before a 4th tone: 不是 bú shì, 不对 bú duì.
- 一 yī becomes yí before a 4th tone and yì before the other tones: 一个 yí gè, 一天 yì tiān, 一起 yì qǐ. As a number in counting it stays yī.
Dictionaries write 不 and 一 with their original tones, and many textbooks print the changed ones. Both are in use.
Tone marks for Chinese you cannot copy
A typer needs pinyin that you already know. For Chinese on a sign, a menu or a page of a book, HanCam reads the characters with the camera of your iPhone or iPad and shows them with pinyin and tone marks, and the meaning underneath. The meaning is in your phone's language where Apple's on-device translation offers it, and in English otherwise.
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Questions and answers
How many tones does Chinese have?
Standard Mandarin has four tones and a neutral tone, so a syllable can be said in up to five ways. Other Chinese languages have more: Cantonese is usually described with six.
How do I type pinyin with tone marks?
Type each syllable with its tone number into the box at the top of this page: ni3 hao3 becomes nǐ hǎo. Then copy the result and paste it where you need it.
Which vowel gets the tone mark in pinyin?
The a or the e, if the syllable has one. In ou it is the o. Otherwise it is the last vowel. So the spellings are hǎo, xiè, gǒu, guì and liú.
Why does the third tone sound different in 你好?
When two 3rd tones meet, the first changes to a 2nd tone. 你好 is written nǐ hǎo and said ní hǎo. The spelling keeps the original tones.
What is the fifth tone in Chinese?
Another name for the neutral tone: a short, light syllable without a pitch shape of its own, as in 吗 ma or the second syllable of 妈妈 māma. It has no tone mark. In numbered pinyin it is written 5 or 0.
Where does the audio of the tones come from?
From the Chinese text-to-speech voice of your own device. Nothing is downloaded and nothing is sent anywhere. iPhone, iPad and Mac have such a voice built in. If your browser has none, the page shows a note and the listen buttons stay silent.