The most basic you have to know before you start to learn the mandarin language is how to pronounce the correct intonation. Chinese language is tonal language, each character, when pronounced, has one to four distinct tones. The four distinct tones and their marking is:
First tone: high and level, as in mā
Second tone: a rising tones as in má
Third tone: the tone dips then rises as in mǎ
Fourth tone: the sharp falling one, as in mà
This is the sample audio for ma and pa
Ma Intonation
Ba Intonation
Note: For the easy to write, I will use 1, 2, 3, 4 to represent these tones.
