Tone Pairs

Tones refer to the different pitches and inflections used to pronounce words in the Chinese languages. We created this series of video lessons with clear explanations, helpful demonstrations, and useful practice exercises for each of the Mandarin Chinese tones, and we think it's the best way to learn and master them. But here's a brief intro:

There are five tones in Mandarin Chinese: the flat or level tone (e.g. mā), the rising tone (má), the falling then rising tone (mǎ), the falling tone (mà), and the neutral tone (ma). The tone of a word can change its meaning, so it is important to use the correct tone when speaking Mandarin Chinese. Pinyin uses accent marks to indicate the correct tone for each word. For example, the syllable "ma" can have four different meanings depending on the tone used: "mā" (妈) means "mother", "má" (麻) means "hemp", "mǎ" (马) means "horse", "mà" (骂) means "scold", and "ma" (吗) is a particle that turns a statement into a yes or no question.

"Tone pairs" is simply the way we refer to two tones pronounced back-to-back. For example, měiguó (美国) is a 3-2 tone pair because měi is 3rd tone and guó is 2nd tone.

An enormous number of Chinese verbs, nouns and most of all adjectives are two characters, and the natural patterns of speech in Mandarin often involves breaking up sentences into two-character pieces. What we realized is that mastering the way tones are pronounced in combination is a critical part of speaking Chinese fluently because these tone pairs reflect how the Chinese language is actually spoken.

When you’re trying to string phrases and sentences together, your carefully-practiced individual tones can get jumbled together and sound awkward – it’s a pain you likely know all too well. That’s why for many years we've encouraged our students to practice tones in pairs instead of individually, and now we've built this Tone Pairs tool to make practicing them effortless!

There are five tones in Mandarin Chinese: the flat or level tone (e.g. mā), the rising tone (má), the falling then rising tone (mǎ), the falling tone (mà), and the neutral tone (ma). The meaning of a word in Chinese isn't just dependent on the syllabic pronunciation but also on the vocal pitch and inflection (a.k.a. the tone), so it is important to use the correct tone when speaking Mandarin Chinese. Pinyin uses accent marks to indicate the correct tone for each word. For example, the syllable "ma" can have four different meanings depending on the tone used: "mā" (妈) means "mother", "má" (麻) means "hemp", "mǎ" (马) means "horse", "mà" (骂) means "scold", and "ma" (吗) is a particle that turns a statement into a yes or no question.

The meaning of a word in Chinese isn't just dependent on the syllabic pronunciation but also on the vocal pitch and inflection (a.k.a. the tone), so it is important to use the correct tone when speaking Mandarin Chinese. Pinyin uses accent marks to indicate the correct tone for each word. For example, the syllable "ma" can have four different meanings depending on the tone used: "mā" (妈) means "mother", "má" (麻) means "hemp", "mǎ" (马) means "horse", "mà" (骂) means "scold", and "ma" (吗) is a particle that turns a statement into a yes or no question.

Good news: if you know English you should already know how to correctly pronounce over half of those sounds without any coaching! As for the rest, that's what we're here for. We've built this Interactive Pinyin Chart with demonstrations for how to correctly pronounce every possible sound in the Chinese language. We've also created this series of video lessons with practice tools that enable you to record yourself and listen back to it to ensure your pronunciation matches the examples. Combined with our Tone Pairs practice tool, you now have everything you need to master pinyin and Chinese pronunciation.