Tone practice · 2
Second tone practice
The second tone rises from the middle to the top. Hear a word with it, say it, and see your pitch drawn over a native speaker’s.
Streak 0
Two syllables · HSK 1–2
昨天
yesterday
Press Hear it, then Hold to say.
How the second tone is said
Start in the middle of your voice and go up, as in a surprised English “What?”: 来 lái, 茶 chá. The rise is quick and ends high.
The usual mistake
Starting too low, so it dips first and sounds like a third tone, or rising too little at the end. Start from the middle and finish clearly higher.
Words to start with
All 481 words here have the second tone. Pick one to say it now.
Questions
How do you say the second tone in Mandarin?
The second tone rises from the middle to the top. Start in the middle of your voice and go up, as in a surprised English “What?”: 来 lái, 茶 chá. The rise is quick and ends high.
Why does my second tone sound wrong?
It starts too low and dips first, or doesn’t rise far enough. Start in the middle of your voice and end high.
More free tools
Chinese shadowing: whole sentences, your pitch over the narrator’s. Listening practice: type what you hear, every word checked. Pinyin trainer: name the tones you hear. Pinyin test: twenty words, one score. Tone pair chart: all 20 pairs, a word to hear for each. Pinyin chart: every syllable, all four tones. 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.