The neutral tone

Some syllables lose their tone and are said short and light: bàba 爸爸, xièxie 谢谢, 吗 ma.

Neutral syllables have no tone mark in pinyin.

Doubled family words (妈妈, 哥哥), particles (吗, 呢, 了, 的) and suffixes like 子 in 桌子 are usually neutral.

Pick the spelling that shows which syllable is neutral.

Updated October 21, 2026

Before this lesson

This unlocks after: The four tones.