pronouncekit

TONE

mǎ: third tone: low, dipping

Learn the Mandarin third tone: a low dip that often stays low in real speech. See its contour and practice mǎ, wǒ and hǎo.

mǎ12345

Mouth & tongue

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Vocal folds: vibrating

TongueTeethUvula

Simplified human pronunciation. The small uvula hangs from the palate; it is not the vocal folds. The wave indicates voicing.

Nasal: the soft palate lowers; air exits the nose

Sound to demonstrate
Tone

Low and dipping, around 214. In connected speech it usually stays low.

Voice settings

The mouth starts slightly open. Movement is slowed for observation; the synthetic sound plays once at its original speed. Pause holds the current mouth shape; reset returns to the relaxed position. The panda is a symbolic teaching aid for human pronunciation, not animal anatomy. A simplified teaching model, not a measured or anatomically validated simulation. It shows the soft palate lowering for nasal sounds, but not airflow. Single syllables use eSpeak NG, a synthetic voice on your device. Its pitch range is narrower than natural speech, so use the tone diagrams and word buttons as well. Words and sentences use a voice from your browser or device when one is available. No native recordings are bundled.

Words to practice

Sentence to practice

Listen and compare

Low and dipping on the first word; a direct rise on the second.

Pinyin here shows dictionary tones. Spoken tones change in some contexts, such as nǐ hǎo; see the lessons on tone changes.

What you are learning

Textbooks draw the third tone as a dip and a rise, but in connected speech it most often stays low. Its low pitch is what listeners notice.

What your mouth is doing

Pitch starts below the middle of your range, drops to the bottom, and rises at the end only when the syllable is final or stressed. It often has a creaky quality at the bottom.

Tone is pitch from the vocal folds, so the panda’s mouth shows the vowels and consonants, not the tone.

Compared with English

English uses a low dipping pitch for hesitant replies such as “Well…”. Use that low part. Many speakers also make it longer than other tones when said alone.

Build the sound, step by step

  1. Lower your voice as far as is comfortable on ǎ.
  2. Stay low, then let it rise a little at the end.
  3. Say wǒ hē shuǐ, keeping wǒ low before the level hē.

What to watch for

  • Starting high and rising only makes it sound like second tone. Go low first.
  • Producing the full dip before every other syllable sounds choppy. See the third-tone change lesson.

Related lessons

Keep practicing

References & editorial notes

PronounceKit wrote this lesson as practical guidance for English speakers, based on the references below. The comparisons are editorial teaching suggestions. It describes common Mainland Standard Mandarin patterns, not every accent or regional variety, and it has not been independently reviewed by a pronunciation specialist or Mandarin teacher.

Published 5 November 2026