{"id":16369,"date":"2022-10-12T22:17:26","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T20:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/?p=16369"},"modified":"2022-10-14T14:55:02","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T12:55:02","slug":"learning-the-neutral-tone-in-mandarin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/learning-the-neutral-tone-in-mandarin\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning the neutral tone in Mandarin"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- Added by Post\/Page Specific Custom Code plugin, thank you for using! -->\n<style>.pron .mejs-horizontal-volume-slider { display: none !important; }\r\n.pron .mejs-time-total { display: none !important; }\r\n.pron .mejs-duration { display: none !important; }\r\n.pron .mejs-currenttime { display: none !important; }\r\n.pron .mejs-time-rail { display: none !important; }\r\n.pron .mejs-volume-button { display: none !important; }\r\n.pron .mejs-container { height: 35px !important; width: 50px !important; border-radius: 15px !important;}\r\n.pron .mejs-controls {  background: #b6100a !important;  height: 35px !important; width: 50px; !important; border-radius: 15px !important;}<\/style>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/neutral-tones_tone-height-chart_mandarin-chinese_hacking-chinese.png.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-16382\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/neutral-tones_tone-height-chart_mandarin-chinese_hacking-chinese.png-1024x129.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"129\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/neutral-tones_tone-height-chart_mandarin-chinese_hacking-chinese.png-1024x129.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/neutral-tones_tone-height-chart_mandarin-chinese_hacking-chinese.png-300x38.png 300w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/neutral-tones_tone-height-chart_mandarin-chinese_hacking-chinese.png-768x97.png 768w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/neutral-tones_tone-height-chart_mandarin-chinese_hacking-chinese.png-1536x194.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/neutral-tones_tone-height-chart_mandarin-chinese_hacking-chinese.png-2048x258.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a>How many tones are there in Mandarin? Most textbooks will tell you that there are four tones, but then you learn that there is also a neutral tone. Maybe you then see someone online claiming that this means that there are actually five tones. So what is this neutral tone and is it a fifth tone or not?<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s go through the basics of what tones are first, just to make sure what we are talking about here. If you\u2019re sure you know what tones are, you can skip the next\u00a0 section<\/p>\n<p><em>Tune in to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/podcast\/\">the Hacking Chinese Podcast<\/a> to listen to the related episode:<\/em><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/hackingchinese\/embed\/episodes\/114---Learning-the-neutral-tone-in-Mandarin-e1p5tsv\" width=\"400px\" height=\"102px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<em>Available on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/hacking-chinese-podcast\/id1536284827\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8zODhlYjllOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==\">Google Podcast<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/overcast.fm\/itunes1536284827\/hacking-chinese-podcast\">Overcast<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/5iCRv1jg3j3yJZGJlYVYaO\">Spotify<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/HackingChinese\">YouTube<\/a> and many other platforms!<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>What are tones in Mandarin?<\/h3>\n<p>The four basic tones of Mandarin are high (first tone), rising (second tone), low (third tone) and falling (fourth tone). What we mean by tone in this case is actually lexical tone, or that how the tone height changes across the syllable is important for what word it is.<\/p>\n<p>If we change the vowel in a word in English, such as changing \u201cbat\u201d to \u201cbit\u201d, we clearly have a different word. In Mandarin, if we change the pitch contour (how tone height changes across the syllable) of a word, it becomes a different word. For example, by changing a high tone to a falling tone, such as <i>m\u0101 <\/i>to <i>m\u00e0<\/i>, we go from a word that means \u201cmother\u201d (\u5988) to a word that means \u201cto scold\u201d (\u9a82). This is as obvious to native speakers of tonal languages as it is that \u201cbat\u201d and \u201cbit\u201d are two different words.<\/p>\n<p>If you think you would benefit from a basic introduction to tones, you can check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/the-hacking-chinese-guide-to-mandarin-tones\/\">The Hacking Chinese guide to Mandarin tones<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"a2kFKomSsd\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/the-hacking-chinese-guide-to-mandarin-tones\/\">The Hacking Chinese guide to Mandarin tones<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;The Hacking Chinese guide to Mandarin tones&#8221; &#8212; Hacking Chinese\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/the-hacking-chinese-guide-to-mandarin-tones\/embed\/#?secret=ylgDNUTi84#?secret=a2kFKomSsd\" data-secret=\"a2kFKomSsd\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I have also written individual articles and recorded podcast episodes about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/learning-the-third-tone-mandarin-chinese\/\">third tone<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/learning-the-second-tone-in-mandarin-chinese\/\">second tone<\/a> specifically that you might want to check out.<\/p>\n<h3>Does Mandarin have five tones?<\/h3>\n<p>Now that we have cleared up what tones are, we are ready to explain why Mandarin has four tones, not five. The neutral tone is not a tone in the same sense as the regular four tones, but rather something that happens to unstressed syllables.<\/p>\n<p>A simple way of explaining it is to say that the neutral tone is in fact the absence of tone, which also explains why it\u2019s a bit silly to count it as the fifth tone.<\/p>\n<p>This doesn\u2019t mean that neutral tones don\u2019t have a specific tone height, but it does mean that pitch is not used to determine what the syllable means. Let\u2019s have a look at how the neutral tone is pronounced and you\u2019ll see what I mean!<\/p>\n<h3>How to pronounce the neutral tone in Mandarin<\/h3>\n<p>A neutral tone is the absence of a normal tone. Remember, words in Mandarin have an inherent tone that you can\u2019t change more than you can change the vowel of an English word. When a syllable has a neutral tone, it means that whatever the tone normally is for that syllable, it\u2019s no longer important and can be ignored.<\/p>\n<p>The default way of pronouncing neutral tones is determined by the preceding syllable in the following manner:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>After a <b>high<\/b> (first) tone, the neutral tone is <b>lower<\/b><\/li>\n<li>After a <b>rising<\/b> (second) tone, the neutral tone is <b>lower<\/b><\/li>\n<li>After a <b>low<\/b> (third) tone, the neutral tone is <b>higher<\/b><\/li>\n<li>After a <b>falling<\/b> (fourth) tone, the neutral tone is <b>low<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<blockquote><p><b>One rule of thumb: <\/b>The neutral tone is pronounced lower, or if you can\u2019t go lower, then as low as the end of the preceding tone.<\/p>\n<p><b>One exception: <\/b>After a third tone, the neutral tone is high instead.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Listen to the following examples while looking at the tone diagrams. As you can see and hear, the neutral tone is usually lower than the end of the preceding syllable, except after a third tone, when it\u2019s high instead.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: flex; width: 500px;\">\n<div style=\"width: 50px;\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0 0 6px 0;\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/male-small.png\" width=\"35\" \/><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0;\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/female-small.png\" width=\"35\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 60px; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"width: 50px; margin-bottom: 15px;\">\n<div class=\"pron\">\n<div class=\"pron\">\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-16369-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/m1\/bei1zi0.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/m1\/bei1zi0.mp3\">\/media\/tones\/audio\/m1\/bei1zi0.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 50px;\">\n<div class=\"pron\">\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-16369-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/f1\/bei1zi0.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/f1\/bei1zi0.mp3\">\/media\/tones\/audio\/f1\/bei1zi0.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 15px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0 0 0 5px; font-size: 130%;\"><em>b\u0113izi\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 0 0 5px; font-size: 170%;\">\u676f\u5b50<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 15px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0 0 0 5px; font-size: 130%;\">&#8220;cup&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 0 0 5px; font-size: 170%;\">(\u676f\u5b50)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/diagrams\/tone-pair_1+0_tone-height-chart_mandarin-chinese_hacking-chinese.png\" alt=\"First tone + First tone\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; width: 500px;\">\n<div style=\"width: 50px;\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0 0 6px 0;\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/male-small.png\" width=\"35\" \/><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0;\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/female-small.png\" width=\"35\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 60px; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"width: 50px; margin-bottom: 15px;\">\n<div class=\"pron\">\n<div class=\"pron\">\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-16369-3\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/m1\/er2zi0.mp3?_=3\" \/><a href=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/m1\/er2zi0.mp3\">\/media\/tones\/audio\/m1\/er2zi0.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 50px;\">\n<div class=\"pron\">\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-16369-4\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/f1\/er2zi0.mp3?_=4\" \/><a href=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/f1\/er2zi0.mp3\">\/media\/tones\/audio\/f1\/er2zi0.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 15px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0 0 0 5px; font-size: 130%;\"><em>\u00e9rzi\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 0 0 5px; font-size: 170%;\">\u513f\u5b50<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 15px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0 0 0 5px; font-size: 130%;\">&#8220;son&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 0 0 5px; font-size: 170%;\">(\u5152\u5b50)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/diagrams\/tone-pair_2+0_tone-height-chart_mandarin-chinese_hacking-chinese.png\" alt=\"First tone + First tone\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; width: 500px;\">\n<div style=\"width: 50px;\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0 0 6px 0;\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/male-small.png\" width=\"35\" \/><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0;\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/female-small.png\" width=\"35\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 60px; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"width: 50px; margin-bottom: 15px;\">\n<div class=\"pron\">\n<div class=\"pron\">\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-16369-5\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/m1\/wo3men0.mp3?_=5\" \/><a href=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/m1\/wo3men0.mp3\">\/media\/tones\/audio\/m1\/wo3men0.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 50px;\">\n<div class=\"pron\">\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-16369-6\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/f1\/wo3men0.mp3?_=6\" \/><a href=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/f1\/wo3men0.mp3\">\/media\/tones\/audio\/f1\/wo3men0.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 15px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0 0 0 5px; font-size: 130%;\"><em>w\u01d2men\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 0 0 5px; font-size: 170%;\">\u6211\u4eec<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 15px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0 0 0 5px; font-size: 130%;\">&#8220;we; us&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 0 0 5px; font-size: 170%;\">(\u6211\u5011)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/diagrams\/tone-pair_3+0_tone-height-chart_mandarin-chinese_hacking-chinese.png\" alt=\"First tone + First tone\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; width: 500px;\">\n<div style=\"width: 50px;\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0 0 6px 0;\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/male-small.png\" width=\"35\" \/><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0;\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/female-small.png\" width=\"35\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 60px; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"width: 50px; margin-bottom: 15px;\">\n<div class=\"pron\">\n<div class=\"pron\">\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-16369-7\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/m1\/ba4ba0.mp3?_=7\" \/><a href=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/m1\/ba4ba0.mp3\">\/media\/tones\/audio\/m1\/ba4ba0.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 50px;\">\n<div class=\"pron\">\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-16369-8\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/f1\/ba4ba0.mp3?_=8\" \/><a href=\"\/media\/tones\/audio\/f1\/ba4ba0.mp3\">\/media\/tones\/audio\/f1\/ba4ba0.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 15px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0 0 0 5px; font-size: 130%;\"><em>b\u00e0ba\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 0 0 5px; font-size: 170%;\">\u7238\u7238<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 15px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0 0 0 5px; font-size: 130%;\">&#8220;dad&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 0 0 5px; font-size: 170%;\">(\u7238\u7238)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"\/media\/tones\/diagrams\/tone-pair_4+0_tone-height-chart_mandarin-chinese_hacking-chinese.png\" alt=\"First tone + First tone\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>The neutral tone and intonation<\/h3>\n<p>As I have explained above, the pitch of the neutral tone is not inherent in the syllable itself, which is what makes it different from the other tones. We have seen that the default pronunciation is determined by the preceding tone, regardless what the tone would be of the neutral tone if pronounced fully.<\/p>\n<p>The pitch can also come from intonation. Here it&#8217;s important to keep track of what words mean! I defined tone above, and it&#8217;s different from intonation, which is used to signal attitude, emotion, focus or other things. An example of intonation is going up at the end of questions or when being surprised, which is true in English as well as Mandarin. In these cases, the neutral tone is flexible and takes whatever tone matches the intonation pattern.<\/p>\n<p>This is rather complicated and not something I will go into detail here, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/learning-the-neutral-tone-in-mandarin\/#comment-102447\">but as Joris has pointed out in the comment section<\/a>, question particles such ase <em>ma <\/em>(\u5417) and <em>me\u00a0<\/em>(\u4e48) are good examples, because they are usually higher than the default form would indicate, because questions tend to rise towards the end, and this particles appear at the very end of questions.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s actually even more to show with that same example, though. We can use different kinds of intonation to give a word like <em>sh\u00e9nme\u00a0<\/em>(\u4ec0\u4e48, &#8220;what&#8221;) different functions and therefore also different pitch. Note that the word still means the same thing in all cases; this is intonation, not tone!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>When you&#8217;re genuinely curious and want to know something,<\/strong> such as when saying <em>sh\u00e9nme<\/em>\u00a0to make someone repeat what they just said. The\u00a0<em>me<\/em> part here is at least as high as the end of\u00a0<em>sh\u00e9n<\/em>, not lower as the default rule would be.<\/li>\n<li><strong>When you&#8217;re greatly surprised by something,<\/strong> you might use <em>sh\u00e9nme\u00a0<\/em>to indicate how unbelievable something is. Here the,\u00a0<em>me\u00a0<\/em>is even higher, possible even higher than anything you&#8217;d say in normal situations; a 6 on a scale from 1 to 5, as it were.<\/li>\n<li><strong>When it&#8217;s not a question at all,<\/strong> such as when you don&#8217;t know what someone is going on about,<em> w\u01d2 b\u00f9 zh\u012bdao n\u01d0 z\u00e0i shu\u014d sh\u00e9nme <\/em>(\u6211\u4e0d\u77e5\u9053\u4f60\u5728\u8bf4\u4ec0\u4e48). The <em>me\u00a0<\/em>here is closer to the default pitch described above, so much lower than the other tow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you want more in-depth explanations of not just tones, but all aspects of Mandarin pronunciation, check out Hacking Chinese Pronunciation: Speaking with Confidence. It\u2019s a full video course where I teach you everything you need to know, including not just the sounds and tones, but also how to master them. The course is suitable for anyone who wants to speak Mandarin clearly, regardless if you\u2019re a beginner or more advanced student. Learn more about the course here: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/courses\/mandarin-chinese-pronunciation-course\/\">Hacking Chinese Pronunciation: Speaking with Confidence<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pronunciation.hackingchinese.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-13751 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/pronunciation-mockup-782.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"782\" height=\"547\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/pronunciation-mockup-782.png 782w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/pronunciation-mockup-782-300x210.png 300w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/pronunciation-mockup-782-768x537.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 782px) 100vw, 782px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can also find more examples of tone pairs, including those with the neutral tone in this article, where I sorted all the HSK vocabulary by tone so you can grab the most important ones for practice: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/focusing-on-tone-pairs-to-improve-your-mandarin-pronunciation\/\">Focusing on tone pairs to improve your Mandarin pronunciation<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>When should you use the neutral tone? How do you know when to use it?<\/h3>\n<p>Unfortunately, you can rarely predict when there will be a neutral tone, so this is something you have to learn for each word, just like you need to know if it\u2019s a first, second, third or fourth tone. In that sense, the neutral tone really is a fifth variant you need to memorise, even if it isn\u2019t a fifth tone.<\/p>\n<p>There are some patterns that can help you both remember when to use the neutral tone and sometimes also predict when to use it even for a word you\u2019ve never heard. Here are the most important rules of thumb:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>The neutral tone only appears at the end of words or between syllables, never at the beginning of words. <\/b>The vast majority of words in Mandarin have two syllables, and therefore, the most typical case of neutral tone is a two syllable word with the second syllable having a neutral tone. There are other combinations, but they are much rarer. There are no words with a neutral tone on the first syllable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Particles often have the neutral tone, such as \u4e86, \u5417 and \u7684. <\/b>They are rarely pronounced on their own and their pitch is determined by their surroundings. This also appears in combination with the above point when particles are squeezed between other syllables, as in <i>t\u012bng bu d\u01d2ng <\/i>(\u542c\u4e0d\u61c2, \u201cI don\u2019t understand\u201d) or <i>k\u00e0n de ji\u00e0n <\/i>(\u770b\u5f97\u89c1, \u201ccan see (something)\u201d).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Many suffixes typically have the neutral tone, such as \u4eec, \u5b50 or \u5934. <\/b>These are very regular, so if you see a word with the noun marker \u5b50, such as \u684c\u5b50 (<i>zhu\u014dzi<\/i>, \u201ctable\u201d), you can be pretty sure it\u2019s a neutral tone. Of course, this doesn\u2019t mean that that character always has a neutral tone. When it\u2019s not used as a suffix, it\u2019s still a full tone, as in \u5b50\u5973 (<i>z\u01d0n\u01da<\/i>, \u201csons and daughters; children\u201d). \u5934 (<i>t\u00f3u<\/i>, \u201chead\u201d) is also neutral in words like \u77f3\u5934 (<i>sh\u00edtou<\/i>, \u201cstone\u201d) or \u6728\u5934 (<i>m\u00f9tou<\/i>, \u201cwood\u201d), but of course not when it\u2019s not used as a suffix, such as in \u5934\u75bc (<i>t\u00f3ut\u00e9ng<\/i>, \u201cheadache\u201d). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/how-to-learn-words-really-fast\/\">You can read more about suffixes here.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Beyond that, you just need to listen to what people say <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/how-to-look-up-chinese-characters-you-dont-know\/\">or look words up in a dictionary<\/a> when you\u2019re not sure, which is a nice segue to the next part.<\/p>\n<h3>How are neutral tones in Mandarin written?<\/h3>\n<p>There are a few ways of indicating the neutral tone in writing, listed with the most common way first:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No tone mark above the main vowel: <i>b\u0113izi<\/i><\/li>\n<li>With a dot before the syllable: <i>b\u0113\u00b7zi<\/i><\/li>\n<li>With the number five: <i>bei1zi5<\/i><\/li>\n<li>With the number zero: <i>bei1zi0<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more about how tones are written down and what difference that might make for you as a student, please check <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/7-ways-to-write-mandarin-tones\/\">7 ways to write Mandarin tones<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"9GErc999x8\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/7-ways-to-write-mandarin-tones\/\">7 ways to write Mandarin tones<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;7 ways to write Mandarin tones&#8221; &#8212; Hacking Chinese\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/7-ways-to-write-mandarin-tones\/embed\/#?secret=28CIfrA1Kt#?secret=9GErc999x8\" data-secret=\"9GErc999x8\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Neutral tones in Mandarin are \u201clighter\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>In Chinese, the neutral tone is called \u8f7b\u58f0 (<i>q\u012bngsh\u0113ng<\/i>), literally \u201clight tone\u201d, which is in my opinion a better name for it. While unstressed syllables can be pronounced in many different ways depending on context, they are typically shorter and lighter. A good way to illustrate this is to look at words that have the same syllable repeated twice, first with a full tone and then with a neutral tone. I already showed several examples above, but here\u2019s what <i>b\u0113izi<\/i> (\u8f88\u5b50, \u201ccup\u201d) looks like, with male speaker on the left, and female speaker on the right right):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/baba-m-f.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-16373\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/baba-m-f-1024x729.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"729\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/baba-m-f-1024x729.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/baba-m-f-300x214.png 300w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/baba-m-f-768x547.png 768w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/baba-m-f.png 1264w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t really need to know how to read spectrograms to interpret this, you just need to look at the waveform at the top. As you can see, the second syllable is much lighter than the first syllable. In some cases, it\u2019s also shorter, but that\u2019s not always the case.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also worth noting that unstressed syllables often get reduced in other ways than tone. For example, it\u2019s not uncommon to drop parts of the final or change the quality of the vowel.<\/p>\n<p>An example of the first might be someone who says <i>d\u00f2\u00f9fu <\/i>(\u8c46\u8150, \u201ctofu) and partially or entirely remove the <i>u<\/i>, turning it into <i>douf<\/i>. An example of the second type might be that particles with <i>-e<\/i> are pronounced with a relaxed, central vowel similar to the vowel sound\u00a0 in English words like \u201cthe\u201d and \u201ca\u201d, which is not the same sound as when the syllable has a full tone, as in \u989d (<i>\u00e8<\/i>, \u201chungry\u201d) or \u70ed (<i>r\u00e8<\/i>, \u201cwarm\u201d).<\/p>\n<h3>Variation in neutral tones in Mandarin<\/h3>\n<p>No discussion about the neutral tone would be complete without raising the issue of regional and individual variation. The most notable difference is that stress in northern dialects of Mandarin is quite different from stress in southern dialects. With different stress patterns follow different frequencies of neutral tones.<\/p>\n<p>This is reflected in the standard language, so words that have a neutral tone in Mainland standard sometimes have full tones in Taiwan standard. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u559c\u6b22 is <i>x\u01d0huan <\/i>in Mainland standard, but <i>x\u01d0hu\u0101n <\/i>in Taiwan standard<\/li>\n<li>\u5148\u751f is <i>xi\u0101nsheng <\/i>in Mainland standard, but <i>xi\u0101nsh\u0113ng <\/i>in Taiwan standard<\/li>\n<li>\u591a\u5c11 is <i>du\u014dshao <\/i>in Mainland standard, but <i>du\u014dsh\u01ceo <\/i>in Taiwan standard<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>People usually don&#8217;t follow the standard<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s also important to understand that most people don\u2019t actually speak Mandarin the way the relevant standards prescribe. This means that in Taiwan, there are in fact many, many more words that are pronounced with full tones than you\u2019d think if you browse through the official dictionary.<\/p>\n<p>Words like <i>y\u012bfu <\/i>(\u8863\u670d, \u201cclothes\u201d), <i>pi\u00e0oliang <\/i>(\u6f02\u4eae, \u201cpretty\u201d and <i>d\u014dngxi <\/i>(\u4e1c\u897f, \u201cthing; stuff\u201d), are actually all listed with neutral tones <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moedict.tw\/\">in the Ministry of Education dictionary,<\/a> although it\u2019s very common to hear them with full tones in the real world.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, when I wrote this article, I brainstormed some fifty words to check against both standards and almost all of them were the same in both standards, even though I picked only words I know people commonly pronounce with full tones in Taiwan!<\/p>\n<p>This goes in the other direction as well, so in northern China, it\u2019s common for people to reduce more syllables and hence have more neutral tones than the prescribed standard. This leads to a stress pattern that sounds closer to English than Taiwanese Mandarin.<\/p>\n<p>For someone who has learnt Mandarin in northern China, it will sound like Taiwanese people enunciate everything to the point of being silly; and for someone who has learnt mandarin in Taiwan, it will sound like people from Beijing swallow half the syllables and don\u2019t pronounce things \u201cproperly\u201d. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/learning-to-understand-regionally-accented-mandarin\/\">This can be hard to deal with at first as a student, but you\u2019ll get used to it!\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"v1YF2ZAdlw\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/learning-to-understand-regionally-accented-mandarin\/\">Learning to understand regionally accented Mandarin<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Learning to understand regionally accented Mandarin&#8221; &#8212; Hacking Chinese\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/learning-to-understand-regionally-accented-mandarin\/embed\/#?secret=JCwsHour3x#?secret=v1YF2ZAdlw\" data-secret=\"v1YF2ZAdlw\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Conclusion: Learning the neutral tone in Mandarin<\/h3>\n<p>My goal in this article was to explain how the neutral tone works: how it is pronounced, where it occurs and how you should think about it as a learner. Let\u2019s summarise:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The neutral tone is what happens with unstressed syllables, and it\u2019s more the absence of a fixed tone than a fifth tone.<\/li>\n<li>The default way of pronouncing the neutral tone is lower than the preceding tone, except after a low tone, when the neutral tone is high instead.<\/li>\n<li>The neutral tone is usually indicated by omitting a tone mark, by adding a dot in front of the syllable, or by using the numbers five or zero.<\/li>\n<li>Unstressed syllables are reduced in other ways too, so not just the tone disappears or changes!<\/li>\n<li>There\u2019s much variation in how prevalent the neutral tone is between different regions and standards, and also how individual people talk.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is really all you need to know about the neutral tone! With more listening and mimicking, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll be able to master it. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. And don\u2019t forget to check out my pronunciation course if you want more in-depth explanations of Chinese pronunciation in video format: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/courses\/mandarin-chinese-pronunciation-course\/\">Hacking Chinese Pronunciation: Speaking with Confidence<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pronunciation.hackingchinese.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-13751 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/pronunciation-mockup-782.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"782\" height=\"547\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/pronunciation-mockup-782.png 782w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/pronunciation-mockup-782-300x210.png 300w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/pronunciation-mockup-782-768x537.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 782px) 100vw, 782px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The neutral tone in Mandarin Chinese can be tricky to learn. How is it pronounced? Is it a fifth tone? And how do you know when it should be used?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,10,15,21],"tags":[1209,1208,1100,456,1211,1210,611],"class_list":["post-16369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beginner","category-distinctively-chinese","category-intermediate","category-listening","category-speaking","tag-fifth-tone","tag-neutral-tone","tag-podcast-episode","tag-pronunciation","tag-stress","tag-syllable-reduction","tag-tones"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Learning the neutral tone in Mandarin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The neutral tone in Mandarin Chinese can be tricky to learn. 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