Chinese language is tonal language. If you change tone of one word, its meaning changes. There are four basic tones in Beijing dialect (Mandarin), represented respectively by the following tone-graphs: “ - “ (the 1st tone), “ ˊ“ (the 2nd tone), “ ˇ “ (the 3rd) tone and “ ˋ“ (the 4th tone).
The following table is an example how a Chinese syllable, when pronounced in a different tone, has a different meaning.
Chinese Word Pinyin Meaning
妈 mā mother
麻 má hemp
马 mǎ horse
骂 mà scold
吗 ma (neutral tone) (used as last word of question)
While studying Chinese, non native Chinese learners will find lots of interesting facts about Chinese Language
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