Tone practice · 4
Fourth tone practice
The fourth tone falls from high to low. Hear a word with it, say it, and see your pitch drawn over a native speaker’s.
Streak 0
Two syllables · HSK 1–2
爸爸
dad
Press Hear it, then Hold to say.
How the fourth tone is said
Start high and drop fast, as in a firm English “No!”: 是 shì, 去 qù. It is short and strong. Before another fourth tone, the first falls only half way: 睡觉 shuìjiào.
The usual mistake
Starting in the middle, so it falls only a little and sounds flat. Start at the top of your voice and fall all the way down.
Words to start with
All 713 words here have the fourth tone. Pick one to say it now.
Questions
How do you say the fourth tone in Mandarin?
The fourth tone falls from high to low. Start high and drop fast, as in a firm English “No!”: 是 shì, 去 qù. It is short and strong.
Why does my fourth tone sound wrong?
It starts too low, so it barely falls. Start at the top of your voice and drop all the way.
More free tools
Chinese shadowing: whole sentences, your pitch over the narrator’s. Listening practice: type what you hear, every word checked. Pinyin trainer: name the tones you hear. Pinyin test: twenty words, one score. Tone pair chart: all 20 pairs, a word to hear for each. Pinyin chart: every syllable, all four tones. Chinese tongue twisters: the tones at speed.
Voices by ElevenLabs, the same two as the app’s word cards. The pitch check is ours and runs in your browser.