Tone pair
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Tone pairs are an important unit of pronunciation to focus on as learner's tones gradually improve.
The concept
The 20 pairs
There are 20 tone pairs because there are four main tones and one neutral tone, but a neutral tone can never be the first syllable in a word or phrase.
| + 1st Tone | + 2nd Tone | + 3rd Tone | + 4th Tone | + Neutral Tone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Tone | 1-1 | 1-2 | 1-3 | 1-4 | 1-0 |
| 2nd Tone | 2-1 | 2-2 | 2-3 | 2-4 | 2-0 |
| 3rd Tone | 3-1 | 3-2 | 3-3❋ | 3-4 | 3-0 |
| 4th Tone | 4-1 | 4-2 | 4-3 | 4-4 | 4-0 |
❋ You might be tempted to think that 3-3 doesn't count, because after the tone change it's the same as 2-3. But actually, you really need to practice this tone change as part of a tone pair, so you'll definitely want to practice 3-3 pairs, just like all the others.
Sources and further reading
Websites
- Sinosplice: New Feature: Mandarin Chinese Tone Pair Drills
- Sinosplice: Mandarin Chinese Tone Pair Drills
- Hacking Chinese: Focusing on tone pairs to improve your Mandarin pronunciation
Videos
- YouTube: [The Most Effective Way to Learn Mandarin Tones - Tone Pairs - Google Hangout with Yangyang] (08:16-27:18)
