Chinese tone pairs and tone sandhi
A tone chart tells you the four tones. It does not tell you what happens when two of them meet — and that is where most learners stop sounding like the recording. Pick one of the 16 tone pairs (or one of the sandhi rules), listen to our own recording of a real word, then record yourself: each syllable is checked on its own, so you see which half of the pair went wrong.
The 16 tone pairs
Every two-syllable word in Mandarin is one of sixteen combinations. Written down, they are just the citation tones; spoken, three of them change.
| Pattern | Written | Read as | Where it moves |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–1 | First + first | 1–1 | high and level then high and level |
| 1–2 | First + second | 1–2 | high and level then rising |
| 1–3 | First + third | 1–3 | high and level then low, dipping |
| 1–4 | First + fourth | 1–4 | high and level then falling |
| 2–1 | Second + first | 2–1 | rising then high and level |
| 2–2 | Second + second | 2–2 | rising then rising |
| 2–3 | Second + third | 2–3 | rising then low, dipping |
| 2–4 | Second + fourth | 2–4 | rising then falling |
| 3–1 | Third + first | 3–1 | low, dipping then high and level |
| 3–2 | Third + second | 3–2 | low, dipping then rising |
| 3–3 | Third + third | 2–3 sandhi | low, dipping then low, dipping |
| 3–4 | Third + fourth | 3–4 | low, dipping then falling |
| 4–1 | Fourth + first | 4–1 | falling then high and level |
| 4–2 | Fourth + second | 4–2 | falling then rising |
| 4–3 | Fourth + third | 4–3 | falling then low, dipping |
| 4–4 | Fourth + fourth | 4–4 | falling then falling |
The three sandhi rules worth drilling
1. Third tone + third tone → second + third
你好 nǐ hǎo is pronounced ní hǎo. Two full 214 dips in a row are simply too much work, so the first one becomes a rising tone and only the second one dips. The same thing happens across three syllables: 我很好 wǒ hěn hǎo comes out as wó hén hǎo.
2. 不 bù → bú before a fourth tone
不是 is read bú shì, 不要 is read bú yào. Before anything else, 不 stays a fourth tone: 不吃 bù chī. Because the character is always written 不, the change lives only in speech.
3. 一 yī → yí / yì
Before a fourth tone it becomes a second tone — 一个 yí ge. Before a first, second or third tone it becomes a fourth tone — 一天 yì tiān. When 一 is counting or comes at the end, it keeps its first tone: 一、二、三 yī, èr, sān.
There is also the half third tone: a third tone followed by anything else is usually just low and creaky, without the rise. We do not drill it separately, because in a pair the low start is the part that carries meaning — the full dip is what you need first.
How the feedback works
- The model is a recording, not a chart. We compare you against our own recording of the word, so the target already contains the sandhi — 你好 is scored against ní hǎo, not against two citation third tones.
- Each syllable is judged separately. The word is split into equal slices and every slice is compared on its own, so "which half of the pair was wrong" has an answer.
- The verdict is the shape, not the pitch. An isolated word carries no information about where your voice sits, so we compare the direction and the dip/rise — a third tone that never dips is reported as sounding like a second tone.
Questions
- What is tone sandhi in Mandarin?
- Tone sandhi is a change in tone that happens when syllables come together. The regular rules are: two third tones in a row turn the first into a second tone (你好 nǐ hǎo is read ní hǎo); 不 bù becomes bú before a fourth tone (不是 bú shì); and 一 yī becomes yí before a fourth tone and yì before a first, second or third tone (一个 yí ge, 一天 yì tiān).
- Why practise tone pairs instead of single syllables?
- Because the changes only appear in combinations — a tone chart teaches you the four citation tones, but not what happens when they meet. Pairs are also where the second and third tone get confused: in a pair you have to produce the rise or the dip at speed, which is harder than reading one syllable in isolation.
- Which tone pairs are hardest for English speakers?
- The third tone, in both directions. After a first or second tone learners often let the dip disappear, so the syllable comes out sounding like a second tone; and in third + third the first syllable has to turn into a second tone before you even say it. Fourth + fourth is the other common one, because the second fall gets flattened.
- Is my recording uploaded?
- No. The recording is decoded and analysed inside your browser with the Web Audio API; the audio never leaves your device, and no account is needed.
- Why does the page say "written" and "read as"?
- Dictionaries and textbooks print the citation tone, but speakers produce the sandhi version. Our model recordings are of a real speaker saying the word, so the pitch curve you are compared against is the spoken form — the "read as" number is what your own contour is matched to.
Keep going
4 sandhi drills and 16 pairs are the bridge between single tones and real speech.