Tone pair chart · 2–N
Second + neutral tone words
All 24 HSK 1–4 words with a second tone then a neutral tone, each to hear in a female or male voice. Tap a word to hear it, again for slower.
The 24 words
How 2–N is said
The second tone rises from mid to high, then the neutral tone is short and light. Its height comes from the tone before it: after a second tone it sits in the middle, as in 名字 míng zi.
Questions
What are some second + neutral tone words?
名字 (míng zi, name), 儿子 (ér zi, son), 孩子 (hái zi, child), 什么 (shén me, what), 爷爷 (yé ye, grandpa), 别的 (bié de, other). This page has all 24 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.