The four tones: same sound, different meaning
Tests: 7 of 11 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 5 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 2 of the chinese street course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★★ · wrong ✗
«ming says ask for táng at the shop, it means soup innit» What happens if you do?
- 1. You get a horse — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. You get soup, he is right — no support
- 3. You get sweets; soup is tāng — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. You get told off for being rude — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★★ · right ✓
«yawn, wǒ yào shuǐjiǎo» you tell Ming's mum at 10 pm. What might she do?
- 1. Cheerfully offer you dumplings — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Phone your parents — no support
- 3. Give you a glass of water — no support
- 4. Put you to bed straight away, it's late — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓
You stop a stranger with «qǐng wěn» instead of qǐng wèn. Why might the class giggle?
- 1. You said «may I kiss» instead of «may I ask» — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. You said «please sell» — no support
- 3. You said «please sleep» — no support
- 4. You said «good night» in the morning — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★★ · right ✓
Counting 8, 9, 10 you say «bā, jiǔ, shǐ!». Why does Ming roll on the floor?
- 1. You counted backwards — no support
- 2. shǐ is a rude word for teachers — no support
- 3. Dipping shǐ means poo, not ten — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score -1
- 4. shǐ means horse — no support
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score -1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 2, line 10: «māma mà mǎ ma? means «is Mum scolding the horse?», a famous tone game friends use to test you, for fun and not to mock.», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «famous game friends» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2); a different thing acted on (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗
What would happen if you called your mum mà instead of māma?
- 1. It would mean grandma — ← Mova's choice · score 4
- 2. Nothing, all four tones of ma mean mum — score 2
- 3. It would sound extra polite — no support
- 4. It would sound like «scold», not «mum» — ✓ the right answer · score 2
Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 4, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 2, line 8: «mà («MAH!» falling sharply) is the fourth tone and means to scold; Chinese speakers are not angry, Mandarin just has many falling words.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «mean» (+2); the same doer «mà» (+2). The right option, 4, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★★ · right ✓
In a cartoon an English kid shouts «nǐ hǎo?» with a rising voice to mean hello. What is off?
- 1. The rise at the end makes it sound like a question — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 2. Nothing, all greetings rise — no support
- 3. Hello must always be whispered — no support
- 4. nǐ hǎo is goodbye — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1, line 12: «zàijiàn («dzye-JYEN», both falling) means goodbye, literally «again see»; it is fine for anyone, and if your voice rises at the end it sounds like a question.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «sound» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗
«ugh, tones are just accent, nobody cares» Which is right?
- 1. Yes, only old people in the countryside use tones — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Tones change the meaning, like vowels in English — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Tones only matter in writing — no support
- 4. Yes, tones are only for singing — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★★ · right ✓
At dim sum you ask for a leopard. What did you probably mean?
- 1. bāozi, a filled bun, said high — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2
- 2. bàozi, said falling — no support
- 3. tāng, a soup — no support
- 4. mántou, a plain bun — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 2, line 1: «In English you can say «cat» high, low, happy or grumpy and it is still a cat. In Mandarin the tune of a syllable is part of the word, like a vowel: change the…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «say» (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★★ · wrong ✗
A shopkeeper says wǒ mài. What is she doing?
- 1. Scolding you — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Counting money — no support
- 3. Selling — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Buying — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★★ · right ✓
Ming's sister says «nǐ hǎo ma?» What is she asking?
- 1. Are you well? — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Where are you going? — no support
- 3. Are you a horse? — no support
- 4. Hello, Mum! — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★★ · right ✓
Your friends make you say māma mà mǎ ma? fast and laugh. What is going on?
- 1. A friendly tone game, not mockery — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. They are being cruel and you should leave — no support
- 3. They want you to scold a horse — no support
- 4. It is a rude rhyme about mums — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the principal reason for which an alteration in tone modifies the meaning of a Mandarin syllable.
- 1. The tonal contour constitutes an integral component of the word itself — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Tones are employed exclusively in interrogative sentences — no support
- 3. Tonal variation merely conveys the emotional state of the speaker — no support
- 4. Tones are relevant solely to the written language — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the meaning of the syllable shí when pronounced with a rising tone.
- 1. Excrement — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. To lose — no support
- 3. Ten — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. To be — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the pair mǎi and mài.
- 1. The dipping form denotes purchasing, whereas the falling form denotes selling — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The dipping form denotes selling, whereas the falling form denotes purchasing — no support
- 3. Both forms denote purchasing — no support
- 4. Both forms denote scolding — no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the utterance «wǒ yào shuìjiào», both principal syllables bearing the falling tone?
- 1. It expresses a desire to sleep — ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 2. It expresses a desire for boiled dumplings — score 3
- 3. It constitutes a request for sweets — score 3
- 4. It is an enquiry concerning the hour — ← Mova's choice · score 4
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 2, line 14: «mǎi (dipping) is to buy and mài (falling) is to sell; only the tone tells these opposites apart.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «tone» (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 1, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chinese-street/2-the-four-tones/