Mandarin pitch does not reset between syllables — the end of one tone shapes how the next begins. Listening to and repeating whole two-character words trains the connected movement learners actually need in conversation, instead of two isolated tones.
The chart sits above the practice card and shows 20 patterns: rows set the first character's tone, columns the second, with a fifth column for neutral tone. Choose any pattern and its real-word audio plays immediately. The practice card puts animated pitch contours above tone-marked pinyin and characters, then gives one plain-language speaking tip. Next word advances that pattern and plays the new word automatically. Refresh all words rotates the examples shown across the whole chart. Each pattern has 20 words, for 400 unique two-character examples in total. No signup, microphone, or recording is required.
Mandarin has four full tones, and a word's second syllable can also be neutral: four beginnings across five endings gives 20 useful patterns. A neutral syllable is unstressed and borrows its pitch from the sound before it, so it does not normally start an isolated word — neutral-first transitions need an earlier syllable for context.
A third tone before a first, second, or fourth tone usually stays down low instead of finishing the full dip-and-rise. When two third tones sit together, the first turns into a rise: 你好 is written nǐ hǎo but sounds closer to ní hǎo. A neutral syllable has no contour of its own — brief, unstressed, taking its pitch from the tone before it. Two small words adapt too: 一 becomes yí before a fourth tone and yì before a first, second, or third tone when it means one, and 不 becomes bú before a fourth tone. Linguists call these changes tone sandhi — worth recognizing, never a prerequisite. Each change is explained beside the word it affects, while the on-screen pinyin stays in its dictionary form.
Add tone-marked pinyin to any text with the Chinese to Pinyin Converter. For whole sentences, the Chinese Tone Sandhi Checker shows where the changes land. For feedback on the tones you produce rather than the ones you hear, open Chinese Pronunciation Diagnosis, or browse all free SayMei Mandarin resources.
A Mandarin tone pair is the pitch pattern made by two syllables said together—for example, Tone 1 followed by Tone 4. The connection matters because tones are not produced as four isolated shapes: the end of the first syllable affects the pitch height and starting point of the second. Practicing real two-character words trains both tone shapes and the transition between them, which is the part single-syllable drills leave out.
Choose a cell and listen once, then copy the whole word without pausing between its two characters. Pay attention to the direction of each tone—level, rising, low, falling, or light—rather than trying to match the speaker's exact pitch. Repeat a few times, use Next word to keep the same pattern with a new example, then mix patterns once the transition feels familiar.
No. The lines are movement landmarks, not a score your voice must copy exactly. Real pitch curves vary with the speaker, speech rate, stress, position in a phrase, and the tones on either side. Use the lines and animation to notice direction and timing—where the pitch stays level, rises, remains low, falls, or becomes brief and light.
This trainer starts each word with one of Mandarin's four full lexical tones. The second syllable can use any of those four tones or a neutral tone, so the chart has 4 × 5 = 20 patterns. This is a practice-chart boundary, not a claim that a neutral syllable can never occur first in a longer utterance. Neutral tone depends strongly on what comes before it, so it is most useful here as the second syllable.
When two third-tone syllables form one close unit, the first is pronounced with a rise. This change is called third-tone sandhi and is often summarized as 3 + 3 → 2 + 3. The rise is similar to a second tone, though it is not necessarily identical in every context. Written pinyin keeps the dictionary tones in 你好 (nǐ hǎo), while natural speech sounds closer to ní hǎo.