The chinese syllable--汉语的音节（1）

一个汉语音节包括三部分：声母，韵母和声调。比如，“妈，mā”由声母m、韵母a、和第一声声调“-”组成。

Chinese syllable consists of three parts: initials, finals, and tones. For example, 'mā' is made up of the initials 'm', the final 'a' and the level tone '-'.

今天我们先学习声调。

Today we learn tone first.

声调指整个音节的高低升降的变化。汉语中一共有五个声调，下面分别举例说明：

Tone is the pitch contour of the syllable. there are five tones. Here are examples:

第一声：妈 mā  音高而平，基本没有升降变化。

第二声：麻 má  由中音升到高音。

第三声：马 mǎ  由半低音降到低音，再升到半高音。

第四声：骂 mà  由高音降到低音。

轻   声： 吗 ma 字音很轻很短。

The first tone: mā (mother) This tone is high and fiat with no change in the pitch, using  '-' as its tone mark.

The second tone: má (numb) This tone rises from the middle to the top, using '/' as its tone mark.

The third tone: mǎ (horse) This tone curves mid-low to low and rises to mid-high, using 'V' as its tone mark.

The fourth tone: mà (scold) This tone falls sharply from the top to the bottom, using '\' as its tone mark.

The neutral tone: ma(sentence final interrogative particle ) This tone is light and short with no tone mark.

请注意：当两个音节都是三声时，前面的第三声读成第二声。比如：你好，很好。

Please be ware that when a third tone is followed by another third tone, the first one should be pronounced as a second tone.  e.g.  nǐ hǎo— ní hǎo， hěn hǎo— hén hǎo.