初级课程-1cours introduction-1

初级课程-1cours introduction-1

  初级课程: Cours - introduction-Tones in Mandarin Chinese

Tones in Mandarin Chinese 

 

Tones

Chinese is a tonal language, but what does this really mean?

Without getting too technical by discussing Chinese morpheme and homophones, Mandarin has approximately 1700 syllables. This number is fairly restrictive compared to English with over 8000. As a result, Mandarin is bound within a limiting number of available syllables to use for speech and writing. To get around this limitation many of the same syllables are pronounced with a different vocal pitch and, as a result, take on a different meaning. This is where the importance of tones comes in. Say a syllable with an incorrect or different tone and the word means something else or is completely incorrect.

We cannot stress enough: Master the tone and sounds and you'll learn Mandarin a lot quicker.

In Pinyin the tones are indicated by a directional line, called the tone mark, above the final. For example, in the word mā the a (the final) has a straight line above it. That line is the tone mark. It indicates what tone to use soma means what we intend it to mean - in this case mother.

Looking again at our previous example of: mā (mother),  mà (scold),  ma (question particle),   mǎ (horse)..."Does mother scold the horse?". It's only the tone mark above the a that gives all four version of ma a different meaning.

Mandarin Chinese (unlike Cantonese) has has five tones - four pitched tones and one silent "toneless" tone. Table 3 below describes each one individually:

Tone	Word	Meaning	Description of the Tone
1st	mā	Mother	The straight line above the word indicates the word is said with a high and flat unchanging tone
2nd	má	To Bother	The up mark moves from bottom left to top right indicates the word should be said in a rising tone
3rd	mǎ	Horse	The down and then up mark - like a V - above the word indicates the word is said with a falling then rising tone
4th	mà	To Scold	The down mark from top left to bottom right indicates he word should be said with a falling tone
5th	ma	Grammatical marker used when a questions is being asked	No tone mark indicates a neutral tone, which is flat with no empahsis

初级课程-1cours introduction-1

数字：les chiffres  et les nombres / Numerals

	Chinese	Pinyin
1	一	yī
2	二	èr
3	三	sān
4	四	sì
5	五	wǔ
6	六	liù
7	七	qī
8	八	bā
9	九	jiǔ
10	十	shí
0	零 / 〇	líng

	Chinese	Pinyin	Note
11	十一	shíyī	10+1
12	十二	shí'èr	10+2
13	十三	shísān	10+3
19	十九	shíjiǔ	10+9
20	二十	èrshí	2x10
21	二十一	èrshíyī	2x10+1
22	二十二	èrshí'èr	2x10+2
30	三十	sānshí	3x10
40	四十	sìshí	4x10
90	九十	jiǔshí	9x10
99	九十九	jiǔshíjiǔ	9x10+9

	Chinese	Pinyin
100	一百	yībǎi
101	一百零一	yībǎilíngyī
110	一百一（十）	yībǎiyī(shí)
111	一百一十一	yībǎiyīshíyī
120	一百二十	yībǎi'èrshí
200	二百	èrbǎi
999	九百九十九	jiǔbǎijiǔshǐjiǔ

	Chinese	Pinyin
1 000	一千	yīqiān
1 001	一千零一	yīqiānlíngyī
1 010	一千零一十	yīqiānlíngshí
1 100	一千一百	yīqiānyībǎi
9 999	九千九百九十九	jiǔqiānjiǔbǎijiǔshíjiǔ
10 000	一万	yīwàn
1 000 000	一百万	yībǎiwàn
100 000 000	一亿	yīyì