Tone pair chart · 3–1
Third + first tone words
All 26 HSK 1–4 words with a third tone then a first tone, each to hear in a female or male voice. Tap a word to hear it, again for slower.
The 26 words
How 3–1 is said
Before a first tone, the third tone stays low and doesn’t come back up; then the first tone stays high and level: 已经 yǐ jīng.
Questions
What are some third + first tone words?
已经 (yǐ jīng, already), 哪些 (nǎ xiē, which), 打开 (dǎ kāi, to open), 左边 (zuǒ biān, left), 北方 (běi fāng, north), 简单 (jiǎn dān, simple). This page has all 26 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.