Neutral Tone

In addition to the four tones, there is also a neutral tone in Mandarin, which is not found in Cantonese. When a syllable has lost its original tone, the tone of the syllable is a neutral tone. It occurs in a non-initial position in a word or phrase, and it must be preceded by at least one syllable that has one of the four tones. No tone mark is needed for a neutral-toned syllable in Pinyin.

A neutral tone is pronounced short, and its pitch value differs depending on the preceding tone. When the neutral tone is preceded by the first, second and fourth tone, it is low in pitch, for example,

 

When the neutral tone is preceded by the third tone, it is higher in pitch, for example,