Common Mandarin tone-pair combinations and pronunciation traps for learners, drilled through paired example words. Front: the word pair in simplified characters with pinyin in parentheses. Back: the tone pattern and a pronunciation tip.
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- 哥哥 (gēge)
- Tones 1-1. High flat on both syllables; consistency is key to this pairing.
- 爸爸 (bàba)
- Tones 4-4. Both syllables fall sharply; maintain the downward pitch on each.
- 弟弟 (dìdi)
- Tones 4-4. Two falling tones in succession; ends decisively low.
- 今年 (jīnnián)
- Tones 1-2. Flat high, then the second syllable rises noticeably.
- 黑白 (hēibái)
- Tones 1-2. Black-white pairs a flat high with a rising tone; pitch goes up on the second syllable.
- 开始 (kāishǐ)
- Tones 1-3. High flat drops to a low dip; dramatic pitch descent in the middle.
- 方法 (fāngfǎ)
- Tones 1-3. Method: flat high becomes low dipped. Pitch falls significantly mid-word.
- 安静 (ānjìng)
- Tones 1-4. High level pitch then sharp downward slide; pitch reversal.
- 工作 (gōngzuò)
- Tones 1-4. High level then falling; the fourth tone plummets from mid-high.
- 吃饭 (chīfàn)
- Tones 1-4. Eat-rice: high flat shifts to a sharp drop; glottal stop at the end.
- 说话 (shuōhuà)
- Tones 1-4. Speaking: high level becomes falling tone; clear pitch descent at midword.
- 高兴 (gāoxìng)
- Tones 1-4. Happy: first is high flat, second falls sharply; tones invert direction.
- 需要 (xūyào)
- Tones 1-4. Need: high flat becomes falling tone that ends very low; stark contrast.
- 学生 (xuéshēng)
- Tones 2-1. Student: rising reaches peak, then flat sits high. Second syllable doesn't rise further.
- 昨天 (zuótiān)
- Tones 2-1. Yesterday: rising tone gets a boost from the high flat that follows; pitch plateaus high.