---
title: "Mandarin First Tone Practice: Say It, See Your Pitch | Mandarin The WildYour pitch over the speaker’s"
description: "Free Mandarin first tone practice with your voice: hear a real word, say it, and see your pitch over a native speaker’s. 414 HSK 1–4 words, and how the first tone is said (it stays high and level)."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

[Tone practice](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice) · 1

# First tone practice

The first tone stays high and level. Hear a word with it, say it, and see your pitch drawn over a native speaker’s.

Streak 0

Two syllables · HSK 1–2

机票

jī piào

plane ticket

PanggeYou

Voice

Syllables

Words

Your voice stays on this device. Nothing is recorded or sent.

## How the first tone is said

Start near the top of your voice and hold it there, flat, like a note you sing: 八 bā, 吃 chī. It is higher than most people speak, so pitch it a little up before you start.

## The usual mistake

Letting it sag at the end, or starting in the middle of your voice. Keep it as high at the end as at the start; in a pair, both first tones sit at the same height: 今天 jīntiān.

## Words to start with

All 414 words here have the first tone. Pick one to say it now.

- [八 bā eight](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone?word=%E5%85%AB)
- [吃 chī to eat](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone?word=%E5%90%83)
- [穿 chuān to wear](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone?word=%E7%A9%BF)
- [多 duō many](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone?word=%E5%A4%9A)
- [歌 gē song](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone?word=%E6%AD%8C)
- [开 kāi to open](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone?word=%E5%BC%80)
- [白天 bái tiān daytime](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone?word=%E7%99%BD%E5%A4%A9)
- [包子 bāo zi steamed bun](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone?word=%E5%8C%85%E5%AD%90)
- [杯子 bēi zi cup](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone?word=%E6%9D%AF%E5%AD%90)
- [超市 chāo shì supermarket](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone?word=%E8%B6%85%E5%B8%82)
- [大家 dà jiā everyone](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone?word=%E5%A4%A7%E5%AE%B6)
- [东西 dōng xī thing](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice/first-tone?word=%E4%B8%9C%E8%A5%BF)

## Questions

### How do you say the first tone in Mandarin?

The first tone stays high and level. Start near the top of your voice and hold it there, flat, like a note you sing: 八 bā, 吃 chī. It is higher than most people speak, so pitch it a little up before you start.

### Why does my first tone sound wrong?

It sags at the end, or starts too low. Hold it high and flat to the end, like a sung note.

## More free tools

[Chinese shadowing](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-shadowing): whole sentences, your pitch over the narrator’s. [Listening practice](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-listening-practice): type what you hear, every word checked. [Pinyin trainer](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-trainer): name the tones you hear. [Pinyin test](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-test): twenty words, one score. [Tone pair chart](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-pairs): all 20 pairs, a word to hear for each. [Pinyin chart](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-chart): every syllable, all four tones. [Chinese tongue twisters](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-tongue-twisters): the tones at speed.

Voices by ElevenLabs, the same two as the app’s word cards. The pitch check is ours and runs in your browser.