Tone Lesson 4 – The Fourth Tone with Tone Pairs Drills

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CHINESE FOURTH TONE

Chinese Fourth Tone is called 四声(sì shēng) in Chinese, literally meaning “the fourth sound”. In this lesson, we will be practicing the Mandarin Pinyin Fourth Tone with Tone Pairs and sentences.

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How to Pronounce the Chinese Fourth Tone

The Mandarin Pinyin Fourth Tone starts high, and then immediately goes down. To pronounce it, we need to allow our pitch to drop quickly. That is why the Chinese Fourth Tone is also known as "the High Falling Tone". Don't be afraid that it might sound "angry" this way, it is just how it is supposed to be.

+Video Chinese Fourth Tone is also called "the High Falling Tone". In this lesson we'll practice Mandarin Pinyin Fourth Tone with tone pairs and sentences.
Chinese Fourth Tone

 

Practice Mandarin Pinyin Fourth Tone with Tone Pairs and Sentences

FOURTH TONE + FIRST TONE

TONE PAIRS
PĪNYĪN 汉字 ENGLISH
qì chē 汽车 car
chàng gē  唱歌 to sing 
dà jiā  大家  everyone 
shàng bān  上班  to go to work 
xìn xīn 信心  confidence 
SENTENCE
 dà jiā zuò qì chē shàng bān
大家坐汽车上班。
Everyone takes the car to go to work.

FOURTH TONE + SECOND TONE

TONE PAIRS
PĪNYĪN 汉字 ENGLISH
qù nián 去年 last year
wèn tí 问题 question; problem
tè bié 特别  special; especially 
liàn xí 练习  to practice 
shù xué 数学  math 
SENTENCE
 liàn xí shù xué wèn tí
练习数学问题。
Practice math questions.

FOURTH TONE + THIRD TONE

TONE PAIRS
PĪNYĪN 汉字 ENGLISH
diàn nǎo 电脑 computer
hàn yǔ  汉语 the Chinese language
diàn yǐng  电影  movie
shàng wǔ  上午  morning
xià yǔ  下雨  to rain 
SENTENCE
 yòng diàn nǎo kàn diàn yǐng
用电脑看电影。
To watch a movie on the computer.
6 Comments
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Dae18 Premium Student May 18, 2022 at 9:00 pm

Some of the sentences feel like tongue twisters, but it is really fun.

Austin Hendrickson Premium Student June 24, 2021 at 10:01 pm

Recognizing the tones at the end is very difficult for me…practice time it is!

mindv0rtex Premium Student March 12, 2018 at 8:23 pm

Hey folks, I have a question. In the quiz for this lesson there is this pair: “qián miàn”. When Lili pronounces it, she puts stress on “a” in “qián” but on “i” in “miàn”. What are the rules for stress position here?

Michael Premium Student August 24, 2017 at 5:39 am

Hi Lili: in this lesson you use hàn yǔ (Chinese language) as an example. Please can you tell me what is the difference between hàn yǔ and zhōng wén? Thanks!

Hànyǔ 汉语 and Zhōngwén 中文 both mean “the Chinese language”. 中文 emphasizes a little more on the written language. But you can say “说中文 shuō Zhōngwén to speak Chinese” as well.

latianig Premium Student April 18, 2022 at 11:49 pm

From my understanding, 汉语 is language of the Han Chinese. Han Chinese is the largest ethnic group in China — more than 90% of the population. 中文 is language/literary composition of “Middle-Country” China 🙂 Just my 2-cent 🙂 🙂

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