Mandarin syllables are not only consonants and vowels. The pitch pattern is part of the word. mā (mother), má (hemp), mǎ (horse) and mà (to scold) are different items in a dictionary.
The four tones
- High and level: mā
- Rising: má
- Low dip (often described as falling-rising in isolation): mǎ
- Falling: mà
Textbooks draw arrows. Your ear learns them faster than any diagram.
Neutral tone
Some syllables are unstressed. In Pinyin they may have no mark. Input tools sometimes call this tone 5.
Sandhi
Tone changes in phrases, especially third tone before another third tone. A converter that writes dictionary tones may not apply every sandhi rule the way a teacher would.
Generate Pinyin for a sentence with the Pinyin converter and compare it to how you would say the line aloud.