How many tones does Mandarin Chinese have?

How many tones does Mandarin Chinese have? Mandarin Chinese has four tones. It means that for one given syllable, or word, you have four different meanings. For example: the word "ma" can either mean horse, mother, hemp, or to scold. Mastering the four Chinese tones is one of the most difficult aspects of learning Mandarin Chinese. When reading pinyin, you can see the tone marks above each Chinese word.