Tone pair chart · 2–1
Second + first tone words
All 47 HSK 1–4 words with a second tone then a first tone, each to hear in a female or male voice. Tap a word to hear it, again for slower.
The 47 words
How 2–1 is said
Each tone keeps its own shape: the first syllable rises from mid to high, then the second stays high and level, as in 明天 míng tiān.
Questions
What are some second + first tone words?
明天 (míng tiān, tomorrow), 白天 (bái tiān, daytime), 读书 (dú shū, to read), 房间 (fáng jiān, room), 时间 (shí jiān, time), 学生 (xué shēng, student). This page has all 47 on the HSK 1 to 4 lists that we have checked recordings of.
How many tone pairs are there in Mandarin?
Twenty. Each of the four tones can be followed by any of the four, which makes 16, and each can be followed by the neutral tone, which makes 4 more.
Practise the pairs
Pinyin test: one word for each of the 20 pairs, one score. Tone practice: say a word and see your tones over a native speaker’s. Pinyin trainer: more of the pairs you miss until they stick.
Voices by ElevenLabs, the same two as the app’s word cards.