Chinese Tone Marks: How to Read, Place, and Type Them

沉浸 TeamAugust 12, 20265 min read

Chinese tone marks are the four small accents written over pinyin vowels: ā, á, ǎ, à. Each one is a tiny picture of the pitch your voice makes: a flat line for the high 1st tone, a rising stroke for the 2nd, a dip for the low 3rd, and a falling stroke for the 4th. A syllable with no mark is neutral tone. So mā, má, mǎ, mà, and ma are five different words, and the mark is what tells them apart on paper: 妈 (mā, mom), 麻 (má, hemp), 马 (mǎ, horse), 骂 (mà, to scold), 吗 (ma, question particle).

This guide covers the three practical questions: which vowel gets the mark, how to type the marks on any device, and when tone numbers (ma1, ma2...) are the better tool.

The four tone marks at a glance

ā (1st tone): a flat bar. High, level pitch. 高 (gāo, tall)
á (2nd tone): rises left to right. Rising pitch. 人 (rén, person)
ǎ (3rd tone): a little dish. Low pitch. 好 (hǎo, good)
à (4th tone): falls left to right. Falling pitch. 是 (shì, to be)
No mark: neutral tone, short and light. The de in 我的 (wǒ de, mine)

If the shapes are new to you, the sounds behind them are the real content; our complete guide to Chinese tones covers how each one is pronounced.

Which vowel gets the tone mark?

When a syllable has more than one vowel (hǎo, guó, xiè), the mark goes on the "main" vowel, and there's a simple rule that covers every case:

If there's an a, mark the a: hǎo, biān, huài.
No a? Mark the o or the e (a syllable never has both): guó, xiè, duō.
Only i and u left? Mark whichever comes last: jiǔ gets the u, guì gets the i, xiū gets the u.

That's the whole rule. One cosmetic note: when i takes a mark, the mark replaces the dot (nǐ), it doesn't stack on top of it.

How to type Chinese tone marks

The zero-setup way: use a converter

If you have Chinese text and want pinyin with the marks already placed, paste it into our free Chinese to pinyin converter. It picks the correct reading word by word (so 长 comes out cháng or zhǎng depending on context), puts every mark on the right vowel, and you can copy the result anywhere. For single words, every Chenjin dictionary page shows tone-marked pinyin you can copy too.

On a phone

Long-press the vowel on the keyboard: holding a pops up à á ǎ ā and friends. Slow for whole sentences, fine for a word or two.

On a Mac

Add the "ABC Extended" keyboard in System Settings, then type the accent shortcut followed by the vowel:

1st tone: Option+A, then the vowel (ā)
2nd tone: Option+E, then the vowel (á)
3rd tone: Option+V, then the vowel (ǎ)
4th tone: Option+`, then the vowel (à)
ü: Option+U, then u; combine with the tone shortcuts for ǚ

On Windows

Windows has no built-in shortcut set for tone marks. The practical options: paste from a converter (fastest), use the touch keyboard's long-press vowels, or install a pinyin-specific tool. Most learners just keep a converter tab open.

Tone marks vs tone numbers

You'll also see pinyin written with numbers: ni3 hao3 instead of nǐ hǎo. The number form exists because it's easy to type anywhere, and you'll meet it in dictionaries' data, flashcard decks, and forum posts. Numbers are a fine input method and a clumsy reading method: nǐ hǎo shows you the melody at a glance, ni3hao3 makes you decode it. Write with numbers when typing is the bottleneck, read with marks whenever you can, and let tools convert between the two (our converter can output either style).

Tone colors: a third way to see tones

Many learning tools also color-code syllables by tone (a common scheme: red for 1st, orange for 2nd, green for 3rd, blue for 4th, grey for neutral). Colors don't replace marks, but they make tones visible even over Chinese characters, where there's no room for accents. Chenjin's reader and dictionary have an optional tone-color setting if your eyes learn that way; the pinyin converter can color its output too.

Do Chinese people use tone marks?

Rarely. Characters don't show tones, and native speakers don't need reminders. Pinyin with tone marks is mainly a learning and teaching tool: textbooks, children's books, dictionaries, and signage for learners. Chinese adults type pinyin without tones (or numbers) to input characters, and the keyboard guesses the word. So tone marks are your tool, for your first few years, and that's exactly what they're good at.

Frequently asked questions

What do the marks above pinyin letters mean?

They mark the tone: the pitch pattern of the syllable. ā is high and flat, á rises, ǎ is low, à falls, and no mark means a light neutral tone. The shape of the mark sketches the pitch movement.

How do I type ǚ?

On a phone, long-press u or v (many pinyin keyboards use v for ü). On a computer, the tone-marked ü letters are awkward to compose with shortcuts, so paste them from a converter, which is what most people do. In tone-number pinyin, ǚ is written v3 or u:3 (nǚ = nv3).

Where does the tone mark go in words like "xiu" or "gui"?

i and u together follow the "mark the last one" rule: xiū, guì. If an a, o, or e is present anywhere, it wins instead: hǎo, xiè.

Why does the pinyin in some books have no tone marks?

Some materials drop marks for adult native readers or for typesetting reasons. As a learner, avoid tone-free pinyin: a word without its tone is half a word. If you have such a text, run it through the converter to restore the marks.

Tired of typing marks by hand? Create a free Chenjin account and read graded stories with tone-marked (and optionally tone-colored) pinyin built in, plus audio for every sentence.