What are the tone marks for pinyin?

There are four main tone marks in pinyin, used to indicate the different tones of a syllable:

* ā (first tone): a high and level tone.

* á (second tone): a rising tone, starting low and rising to high.

* ǎ (third tone): a dipping tone, starting high, dipping down, and then rising slightly.

* à (fourth tone): a falling tone, starting high and falling to low.

There's also a neutral tone, represented by a ¨ (umlaut) mark, used for syllables that are not pronounced with a distinct tone. This usually happens when a syllable follows another syllable with a tone.

Here's a table summarizing the tone marks:

|---|---|---|---|

| First Tone | ā | High and level | mā (妈) |

| Second Tone | á | Rising | má (马) |

| Third Tone | ǎ | Dipping | mǎ (马) |

| Fourth Tone | à | Falling | mà (骂) |

| Neutral Tone | ¨ | No distinct tone | de (的) |

It's important to remember that these tone marks are crucial for accurate pronunciation in Mandarin Chinese.