Tone practice · Neutral
Neutral tone practice
The neutral tone is short and light. Hear a word with it, say it, and see your pitch drawn over a native speaker’s.
Streak 0
Two syllables · HSK 1–2
孩子
child
Press Hear it, then Hold to say.
How the neutral tone is said
Say it quicker and softer than the syllable before, with no shape of its own. Its height comes from the tone before it: low after a fourth tone (爸爸 bàba), high after a third (饺子 jiǎozi), in the middle after a second (朋友 péngyou) and a little lower after a first (妈妈 māma).
The usual mistake
Giving it a full tone of its own, or saying it as long as the syllable before. Let it go light and quick, at whatever height the tone before leaves it.
Words to start with
All 91 words here have the neutral tone. Pick one to say it now.
Questions
How do you say the neutral tone in Mandarin?
The neutral tone is short and light. Say it quicker and softer than the syllable before, with no shape of its own. Its height comes from the tone before it: low after a fourth tone (爸爸 bàba), high after a third (饺子 jiǎozi), in the middle after a second (朋友 péngyou) and a little lower after a first (妈妈 māma).
Why does my neutral tone sound wrong?
It gets a full tone and as much time as the syllable before. Make it quick and light, at the height the tone before leaves it.
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.