Transcribed and adapted by Ethan Yu
Position of Tone Marks
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Tone marks are always placed above vowels
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When there are two vowels, the tone mark is placed on the vowel in the following order:
a e i o u ü
For example:
for 老 lao, the tone mark would be on the a (lǎo)
for 会 hui, the tone mark would be on the i (huì)
Exception:
for iu, the tone mark would be on the u
For example, for jiu, the tone mark would be on the u
Neutral Tone
A particle at the end of a sentence:
example: 吗 ma、呢 ne、吧 ba、啊 a
When used as a suffix with no strong meaning:
example: 左边、前面、早上、桌子
When repeatedly used in a word:
example: 爸爸、哥哥、叔叔、太太
When repeating the meaning of, or carrying a softer meaning than its preceding character in a word:
example: 衣服、耳朵、眼睛、凉快
Two Third Tones
If two third tones syllables are spoken in succession, the first third tone becomes second tone, orally. For example:
你好 nĭ hăo →
处理 chǔ lǐ →
Note
This change only occurs orally. In writing, do not change the tone marks from third to second tone. For example, 你好 nĭ hăo remains nĭ hăo in writing.