ā (mā)55 (───)
1st Tone (High Level)
妈 (mā)mother
4 Packs
Drill Workbooks
48 Hanzi
High-Frequency Pairs
Practice writing the tone mark directly over the main vowel (priority order: a > o > e > i/u/ü; for iu and ui, mark the second vowel).
Write three classic four-tone minimal sets side by side to internalize how pitch contour alone distinguishes Mother (妈), Hemp (麻), Horse (马), and Scold (骂).
Contrast curled-tongue retroflex initials against flat-tongue dental sibilants—the single most common pronunciation hurdle for learners.
Practice when to write the umlaut dots (nǚ, lǜ) and when Pinyin orthography drops the dots after palatal initials (jū, qù, xué, yú).
Train the distinction between alveolar front nasals (in/en/an) and velar back nasals (ing/eng/ang) through high-frequency HSK pairs.