Pinyin Tone Trainer Quiz
Listen, identify, and master all four Mandarin tones through interactive practice.
New: Tone Switch Quest, six untimed pairs of words that differ only in tone.
Tone Switch Quest
Six pairs a set, one for every pair of tones. Hear two words that share a syllable, match each sound to its meaning, then recall each word's tone once the sounds are gone. No timer and no microphone. A run is four sets and three hearts, and your score can go on the leaderboard.
- 1st ↔ 4th
- 2nd ↔ 4th
- 1st ↔ 3rd
- 1st ↔ 2nd
- 3rd ↔ 4th
- 2nd ↔ 3rd
Each set runs from the easiest contrast to hear (high flat against falling) to the one learners mix up most (rising against dipping). A wrong meaning or a wrong tone costs a heart. Right answers in a row build a combo up to ×5, and every set you clear makes the next one stricter. Afterwards you can retry each missed pair once, unscored.
Both words are
Hear both, then choose: which meaning is Sound A?
The sounds are gone. From memory: which tone was each word?
Quest complete
0 points
Words to revisit
Nothing to revisit: you cleared every contrast without help.
Definitions marked † come from CC-CEDICT, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Other definitions © ThePureLanguage.
Ready to Train Your Ears?
Practice identifying Mandarin tones with audio clips.
Practise missed sounds
One short, untimed pass. No points, XP or leaderboard score.
—
No tone-mark keyboard? The same four are typed with the tone as a number: ma1, ma2, ma3, ma4.
- Listen multiple times - Don't rush! Click play as many times as needed.
- Focus on direction - Is the pitch going up, down, or staying flat?
- Compare extremes first - Tone 1 (high flat) vs Tone 4 (falling) are easiest to distinguish.
- Tone 2 vs 3 - Both rise, but Tone 3 dips first before rising.
- Practice daily - Even 5 minutes of tone practice builds muscle memory.
- Use the Pinyin Chart to hear tones in context.
Hear It, Pick It: Two Questions and a Real Run
Press the speaker and the game plays one syllable, say shi. The clock only starts on that first play (on Medium you get 8.5 seconds a question), and while it runs you can play the syllable again as often as you like. If the pitch climbs, pick the 2nd tone, and the game answers: Correct! shí is the 2nd tone (rising).
Then the same syllable again, and this time it sinks before it climbs: shǐ is the 3rd tone (dipping). That is the pair learners mix up most. Both rise, but Tone 3 dips first before rising, which is why the reference card above calls the third tone a "Confused grunt".
Transcript
- Which tone is this? Press play, and the clock starts.
- shí (shi)
- shí (shi)
- Second tone, it rises.
- Same syllable, which one now?
- shǐ (shi)
- shǐ (shi)
- Third tone. It rises too, but it dips first.
- The tone guide's name for it? A confused grunt.
- A wrong tone, or running out of time, costs a heart, and you get three.
- Four in a row, and your multiplier climbs, as high as times five.
- And every ten questions, the clock gets half a second shorter.
- Here's a real run, on Medium.
- Can your ears beat that?
- Press play, trust your ears, and keep the streak.
- Tone Trainer is free, at The Pure Language dot com.
Press play, trust your ears, and keep the streak.
A wrong tone or running out of time costs one of your three hearts. Every four right in a row raises the combo, up to ×5, and every ten questions start a new round with a clock half a second shorter. Medium counts every point twice and Hard three times. New to tones? Choose Easy (Tone 1 & 4), then press Start Quiz.
Transcript
- Why do tone marks matter?
- First tone, high and level.
- 妈 (mā)
- Second tone, rising.
- 麻 (má)
- Third tone, down low, then up.
- 马 (mǎ)
- Fourth tone, falling sharply.
- 骂 (mà)
- Change the tone, change the word.
Change the tone, change the word.