Tone pair 1-3

This page will cover some examples of the 1-3 tone pair, which Sinosplice rates as a "4" on a difficulty rating of 1-7 (easiest to hardest).

This one's a little difficult. First character is flat and high, when going into the second character start low then go lower before rising to a high tone. Practice this tone pair using the words below. Once you can say them reliable in isolation (as just a tone pair), try putting them in longer sentences while keeping the tones accurate.

1-3 Tone Pair Words (A2)

If you're just getting started with tone pairs, these simple two-syllable words and phrases are a good place to start. If these are too easy, you may want to move onto the longer (B1) phrases below.

Audio Chinese Pinyin English
play 今天 jīntiān today
play 公司 gōngsī company
play 星期 xīngqī week
play 咖啡 kāfēi coffee
play 香蕉 xiāngjiāo banana

Source: AllSet Learning's "Tone Pair" Pronunciation Pack (used with permission)

1-3 Tone Pair Combos

Source: Sinosplice's Mandarin Chinese Tone Pair Drills (used with permission)

  • 真早 (zhēn zǎo) really early
  • 真美 (zhēnměi) really beautiful
  • 真冷 (zhēn lěng) really cold
  • 真晚 (zhēn wǎn) really late
  • 真短 (zhēn duǎn)really short

Sources and further reading

Websites