Pinyin Sheets

Mandarin Tone Pair Drills: 20 Two-Syllable Combinations to Practise

Published 2026-10-06 · Updated 2026-10-06

Mandarin Tone Pair Drills

Most learners can say the four tones on single syllables: mā, má, mǎ, mà. Then they try a real word like 学校 or 电脑 and the tones fall apart.

That's because tones in real speech come in combinations, and each combination has its own shape. Practising tone pairs, two-syllable words where you know exactly which tones meet, is one of the quickest ways to make tones stick. This page gives you a full grid of pairs, explains the changes that happen when certain tones meet, lists the tone errors that examiners mark most often, and finishes with a short daily drill.

Quick reminder: the four tone shapes

Using the five-level pitch scale (5 = highest, 1 = lowest), the standard values are first tone 55, second tone 35, third tone 214 and fourth tone 51 (Putonghua phonetics summary).

  • First (55): high and level. Hold it like a note.
  • Second (35): rising from the middle to the top, like asking "huh?"
  • Third (214): dips low, then rises a little. In pairs it usually loses the rise (see below).
  • Fourth (51): falls sharply from top to bottom.

The 4×4 grid

Each cell has a common two-syllable word with that tone pattern. The words in the third-tone row are taken from the Gansu college's examples (source). The other words, and all pinyin and meanings, are our own choices.

1st syllable ↓ / 2nd → 1st tone 2nd tone 3rd tone 4th tone
1st tone 飞机 fēijī (plane) 中国 Zhōngguó (China) 铅笔 qiānbǐ (pencil) 高兴 gāoxìng (happy)
2nd tone 明天 míngtiān (tomorrow) 同学 tóngxué (classmate) 苹果 píngguǒ (apple) 学校 xuéxiào (school)
3rd tone 北方 běifāng (the north) 语言 yǔyán (language) 粉笔 fěnbǐ (chalk) 努力 nǔlì (hard-working)
4th tone 汽车 qìchē (car) 问题 wèntí (question) 电脑 diànnǎo (computer) 再见 zàijiàn (goodbye)

Plus neutral tone

Many common words end in a light, unmarked syllable. GB/T 16159 writes neutral-tone syllables without a tone mark (GB/T 16159), as in its example péngyou. Practise these as a fifth column:

Pattern Example
1st + neutral 妈妈 māma
2nd + neutral 朋友 péngyou
3rd + neutral 姐姐 jiějie
4th + neutral 爸爸 bàba

The pairs that change: third tone

Third tone is where tone pairs differ most from single syllables. Following the Gansu college summary (source):

  1. Before a 1st, 2nd, 4th or neutral tone, the third tone drops its rising tail and is said low (21). So in 北方, 语言, 努力 and 姐姐, the first syllable is a low, relaxed tone, not a full dip-and-rise.
  2. Before another third tone, the first one changes to 35, the same as a second tone. 粉笔 is written fěnbǐ but sounds like fénbǐ.
  3. Three third tones in a row depend on how the word divides. In 水彩笔 (2+1 structure) the first two change to 35. In 党小组 (1+2 structure) the first is said low (21) and the middle one changes to 35.

The practical upshot: in the grid's third-tone row, no syllable gets a full 214. If your child dips and rises on every third tone, their speech will sound slow and choppy. For more on the 一 and 不 changes, see our tone change rules guide.

The tone errors examiners see most

The Shenzhen University testing station's coaching notes for the national Putonghua test list common tone errors (SZU). The ones most relevant to learners:

  • Third tone that only falls and never rises. On a single syllable or at the end of a phrase, the third tone should rise at the end.
  • Second tone said as a low rise (13) instead of 35. It starts too low and never reaches the top.
  • Fourth tone said as a short low fall (31) instead of 51. It needs to start high.
  • First tone said too low or not level.
  • Rising and falling shapes swapped.

These map neatly onto the grid. If second tones are coming out low, drill the second-tone row. If fourth tones lack punch, drill the fourth-tone column.

Four-character drills

The same coaching notes include two sets of four-character idioms that run through the tones in order. They're excellent for a quick warm-up (SZU). The pinyin is ours.

1-2-3-4 order (阴阳上去):

  • 风调雨顺 fēng tiáo yǔ shùn
  • 心明眼亮 xīn míng yǎn liàng
  • 妖魔鬼怪 yāo mó guǐ guài

4-3-2-1 order (去上阳阴):

  • 妙手回春 miào shǒu huí chūn
  • 异口同声 yì kǒu tóng shēng

Say each one slowly, exaggerating the shapes, then at normal speed. In 1-2-3-4 order the third tone comes before a fourth tone, so it should be low, not dipping.

A 10-minute daily drill

  • 1 minute: single tones. Say mā má mǎ mà with big hand movements: flat, up, dip, down.
  • 3 minutes: one row of the grid. Read the four words in a row three times each. Change rows every day.
  • 2 minutes: one column. Same idea, reading down.
  • 2 minutes: third-tone special. 北方, 语言, 粉笔, 努力, then 你好 and 老虎.
  • 2 minutes: idioms. Read the five idioms above.

Listening variation: say a word from the grid with the tones deliberately wrong, and have your child correct you. Children love catching adults out.

Recording variation: record your child reading one row on Monday and again on Friday. Hearing the improvement is very motivating.

If your child also mixes up sounds like zh/z or -n/-ng, our list of common pinyin mistakes has minimal pairs for those.

Print the grid as a worksheet

Type the 16 grid words into the pinyin worksheet generator. Full mode prints each word in tianzige squares with pinyin above, so children can see the tone marks while they read. Third-tone changes are not written in standard pinyin, so 粉笔 prints as fěnbǐ; model the spoken change aloud. (The spoken-tones option applies to 一 and 不.) Blank mode shows only the pinyin, so your child reads each word aloud and then writes the characters from memory.

Sources

Sources