<p>Even more useful than learning the individual tones is their learning their combinations.</p>

<p>One combination many English-speakers seem to have trouble with is 3 + 2, as in</p>

<ul>
<li>Měiguó 'America'</li>
<li>hěn máng 'busy, quite busy'</li>
<li>xiěwȧn 'to finish writing'</li>
<li>liǎnpén 'basin for washing the face'</li>
</ul>

<p>etc. This combination is particularly useful because it helps people grasp the correct sound of <em>both</em> tone 2 and tone 3, by juxtaposing them and so highlighting their differences.</p>

<p>The advantage of learning all 4 * 5 = 20 combinations reasonably well is that each two-syllable word you know serves as a model for new words that have the same pattern.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-25T11:19:36.333Z
2015-10-25T11:19:36.333Z
brannerchinese
<p>This is an interesting question and I actually counted a small number of characters and tried to get a sense of it last year.</p>
<p>It turned out that the fourth tone is the most popular one in my sample characters, which are 320 of them, 30%.</p>
<p>I only counted characters, not characters appearing in texts. Also, characters with multiple reads and neutral tones are counted.</p>
<p>I realised how tones change when surrounded by different tones.</p>
<p>I wrote an article about this experiment and published it here:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mslmaster.com/index.php/teaching-learning-resources/10-resources/193-tones-a-fluid-and-dynamic-concept" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.mslmaster.com/index.php/teaching-learning-resources/10-resources/193-tones-a-fluid-and-dynamic-concept</a></p>
<p>I’m not sure if the percentage still holds if a larger number of characters are studied.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-04T10:12:31.457Z
2023-02-04T10:18:07.613Z
2023-02-04T10:18:07.613Z
Xuehong Zhang
<p>The most difficult for me in learning Chinese is memorizing the correct tone.</p>
<p>I tried to find on web what the most frequently used tones are, but it seems to be hard to find.</p>
<p>I suppose if one tone is used 50 % of the time, I will just need to memorize the other ones. For instance tone 4 seems to be very frequently used, and I will just have to memorise perfectly tones 1, 2 and 3.<br />
added 4th February 2023, because the list of Hanzi in 3rd tone was deleted by Someone...<br />
So, now, i try to memorise perfectly hanzis pronounced with the third tone. i began to write a list of the most commonly used. what i need now are a few sentences easy to memorise and using part of these hanzis. the list : : dropbox.com/s/ypf6div37m0c34i/third%20tone.docx?dl=0</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-29T04:41:07.590Z
There is no default tone. Even if there was, you might have problems. Because meanings are different for different tones.
FortCpp
<mandarin><tones><phonology>
Which is the most frequently used tone?
# Which is the most frequently used tone?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-10-23)

The most difficult for me in learning Chinese is memorizing the correct tone.

I tried to find on web what the most frequently used tones are, but it seems to be hard to find.

I suppose if one tone is used 50 % of the time, I will just need to memorize the other ones. For instance tone 4 seems to be very frequently used, and I will just have to memorise perfectly tones 1, 2 and 3.  
added 4th February 2023, because the list of Hanzi in 3rd tone was deleted by Someone...  
So, now, i try to memorise perfectly hanzis pronounced with the third tone. i began to write a list of the most commonly used. what i need now are a few sentences easy to memorise and using part of these hanzis. the list : : dropbox.com/s/ypf6div37m0c34i/third%20tone.docx?dl=0

**Tags:** mandarin, tones, phonology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: There is no default tone. Even if there was, you might have problems. Because meanings are different for different tones.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-10-25. Score: 4

Even more useful than learning the individual tones is their learning their combinations.

One combination many English-speakers seem to have trouble with is 3 + 2, as in

* Měiguó 'America'
* hěn máng 'busy, quite busy'
* xiěwȧn 'to finish writing'
* liǎnpén 'basin for washing the face'

etc. This combination is particularly useful because it helps people grasp the correct sound of *both* tone 2 and tone 3, by juxtaposing them and so highlighting their differences.

The advantage of learning all 4 \* 5 = 20 combinations reasonably well is that each two-syllable word you know serves as a model for new words that have the same pattern.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2023-02-04. Score: 2

This is an interesting question and I actually counted a small number of characters and tried to get a sense of it last year.

It turned out that the fourth tone is the most popular one in my sample characters, which are 320 of them, 30%.

I only counted characters, not characters appearing in texts. Also, characters with multiple reads and neutral tones are counted.

I realised how tones change when surrounded by different tones.

I wrote an article about this experiment and published it here:

<https://www.mslmaster.com/index.php/teaching-learning-resources/10-resources/193-tones-a-fluid-and-dynamic-concept>

I’m not sure if the percentage still holds if a larger number of characters are studied.


---

