四声 · the four tones
Pronouncing Chinese numbers
Each number is one syllable with one of four pitch shapes. The shapes are drawn below on the five-level scale linguists use, 1 for your lowest comfortable pitch and 5 for your highest. Buttons play your device's Mandarin voice where it has one.
The four tones in the numbers
First tone: high and level (55, held, as if sung)
一 yī 1 三 sān 3 七 qī 7 八 bā 8 千 qiān
Second tone: rising (35, like a surprised "what?")
零 líng 0 十 shí 10
Third tone: low, dipping (214, low and creaky; the rise is often dropped)
五 wǔ 5 九 jiǔ 9 百 bǎi两 liǎng
Fourth tone: falling (51, sharp, like "stop!")
二 èr 2 四 sì 4 六 liù 6 万 wàn
Example: the syllable ma in the four tones is mā, má, mǎ, mà, and with no tone mark, ma, it is the light neutral tone. No number uses the neutral tone.
Two tone changes that touch numbers
一 changes before a following syllable
Before a fourth tone 一 rises: 一万 is said yíwàn. Before a first, second or third tone it falls: 一千 yìqiān, 一百 yìbǎi. It keeps its own tone, yī, when it ends a word (十一 shíyī), as an ordinal (第一 dì-yī), and when the next syllable is another digit read one by one, as in a phone number.
Two third tones: the first one rises
Mandarin avoids two third tones in a row by saying the first as a second tone. 五百 wǔbǎi is said wúbǎi, 九百 jiǔbǎi is said jiúbǎi, and 两百 liǎngbǎi is said liángbǎi.
Neither change is written in standard pinyin. GB/T 16159-2012 §6.5.2 rules that 一 and 不 are written in their own tones (yī, bù), and allows the changed tones to be marked in language teaching. This site prints yī on the chart and the sheets, and its answer keys accept a pupil who writes yìbǎi. If your textbook marks the changes, tell the class the sheets use dictionary tones.
The sounds English spells differently
| Pinyin | Number | How it is made |
|---|---|---|
| s / sh | 四 sì / 十 shí | s with the tongue tip at the teeth; sh with the tip turned up and back behind the ridge. In si and shi the vowel is a buzz that continues the consonant, not the “ee” of see. |
| q | 七 qī | A breathy sound made with the flat of the tongue against the palate, near the ch of cheese. Not a k sound. |
| j | 九 jiǔ | The same place as q without the breath, near the j of jeep. |
| er | 二 èr | One syllable with the tongue curled back, close to American “are”. |
| iu | 六 liù / 九 jiǔ | Spelling shorthand for iou: liù sounds close to “lyoh”. |
| ian | 千 qiān | The a is raised towards e: closer to “chyen” than “chyan”. |
Then the drill: 四是四，十是十，十四是十四，四十是四十 , “four is four, ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty”: sì shì sì, shí shì shí, shísì shì shísì, sìshí shì sìshí.
Questions from learners and teachers
Why does the pinyin say yī when people say yì?
一 changes tone in speech: before a fourth tone it rises (一万 yíwàn), before the other tones it falls (一百 yìbǎi, 一千 yìqiān). The national pinyin rules, GB/T 16159-2012 §6.5.2, write 一 in its own tone, yī, and allow the changed tone in language teaching. This site follows the rule and prints yī, and its answer keys accept yì and yí.
How do I stop mixing up 四 and 十?
Separate the consonant and the tone. 四 sì starts with an s made at the teeth and falls; 十 shí starts with sh made with the tongue tip turned up and back, and rises. Practise the pair as a question and a statement: shí? sì. The tongue twister 四是四，十是十，十四是十四，四十是四十 exists to drill exactly this.
How is 二 èr pronounced?
As one syllable with the tongue curled back, close to the "ar" of American "are" said with a falling tone. It is the only number that starts with a vowel, which is why pinyin needs an apostrophe before it inside a word: shí'èr (12).
Do I need tones to be understood when saying numbers?
Context carries a lot, but the tones are part of each word and several numbers are close in sound: 四 sì and 十 shí, 一 yī and 七 qī, 九 jiǔ and 酒 jiǔ (wine, the same syllable). Getting the tone right is what keeps 四十 (40) apart from 十四 (14) on the phone.