Basics

Chinese from the start

Learn to read pinyin, hear every letter, and read short guides to how Chinese works.

131Letters to learn

4Charts

33Guides

Tones

Every syllable has a tone, the shape of its pitch, and the tone is part of the word: mā is mother, mǎ horse. Pinyin marks four tones over the vowel; a syllable with no mark is in the light neutral tone. A few tones change before others in speech.

Read the guide: Tones

Review these lettersSign up to learn them with spaced repetition, as you do words.

Tap a letter to hear it and see how it's written.

The four tones and the neutral tone (声调)

5 letters

Each tone is shown on ma. Listen to each one and copy its shape: high and level, rising, low, falling, and short and light.

1st2nd3rd4thneutral

Tone changes (变调)

4 letters

In speech these tones change before others. Pinyin, and this app's dictionary, write the usual tone; textbooks often mark 一 and 不 with the tone said.