Pinyin booth
Tone marks on finals
Where to put ā á ǎ à and how numbering works.
Mark the right vowel
Priority: a, then o/e, else the final vowel—except iu/ui mark the last letter.
Numbered pinyin (hao3) is fine for typing; marks are better for reading aloud.
Wrong mark placement confuses reading even if you know the tone number.
mark on e
ui → mark on i
iu → mark on u
mark on a
All four marks
Macron ā tone 1, acute á tone 2, caron ǎ tone 3, grave à tone 4.
Neutral tone has no mark (ma).
Practice rewriting numbered notes as marked pinyin.
tone 1 mark
tone 2 mark
tone 3 mark
tone 4 mark
Typing reality
Phones/computers often type tone-less pinyin and then you choose characters.
Still learn marks so textbooks and this site make sense.
When making your own cards, include marks.
study
Chinese language
pinyin
tone
Common mistakes
Marking the wrong vowel in ei/ao/iu/ui.
Forgetting that neutral tone words omit the mark.
Reading marks as English accent marks rather than tone contours.
who
water
no mark
second often unmarked/light