There are four tones in Mandarin Chinese Pinyin, plus one neutral tone(or called "no tone").

在汉语中有四个声调，加一轻声（或称为“无音”）音。

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Mandarin, the biggest language in the Chinese family, has four tones, so that what sounds just like "ma" in English has four distinct sounds, and meanings.

汉语中最大的分支普通话有四种声调，所以英语中的“ma”在汉语中就有四种不同的发音，以及各不相同的意思。

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