Learn the Tones
Mandarin is a tonal language, which means if you say a word with the wrong tone or inflection, you can be misunderstood. For example: “ma”There are four distinct tones. In Pinyin, the first tone: mā(mother) this tone is high and flat with no change in the pitch,using‘ˉ’as its tone mark.the second tone: má(numb)this tone rises from the middle to the top, using ‘ˊ’as its tone markthe third tone: