Hear it. Read it. Zap it.
Tone Pair Arcade
Real two-syllable Chinese words fall from the sky — tap their tone pattern (1+4? 3+2?) before they land. Three lives, a combo multiplier, and waves that get faster and sneakier. The timed sequel to our Tone Pairs Quiz.
- A word falls — in 🎧 Listening mode its two syllables are spoken with exaggerated tones (tap or press R to replay — a replay costs that word's speed bonus). In 👀 Reading mode there is no audio and the pinyin has no tone marks — recall the word's tones from memory.
- Tap the tone pattern — e.g. 4+5 for bàba (falling + neutral). Keys 1–4 work too.
- Don't let it land — a miss or a wrong tap costs one of your 3 ❤, and the right pattern lights up with its tone shapes drawn. Every 4 correct in a row raises your combo multiplier (up to ×5) and the stage heats up.
- Pick a level — Beginner starts with HSK 1 words, the longest fall and a short breath between the two syllables; Intermediate, Advanced and Expert start at HSK 2, 3 and 4, drop the words faster and run the syllables together the way a fluent speaker says them. Expert hides the pinyin in both modes and never replays for you. The voice keeps its natural pitch at every level.
- Clear waves — 10 words per wave; each wave falls faster, and every two waves the next HSK level joins. Words are dealt by tone pattern, so neutral-tone pairs and 3+3 words turn up as often as the easy ones.
Every two-syllable Mandarin word is one of these 20 patterns (tones 1–4 on the first syllable × tones 1–4 or the neutral tone 5 on the second). Learn one anchor word per pattern and you can name any pattern you hear.
Words come in pairs
Most Mandarin words are two syllables, and tones behave differently in combination than in isolation — sandhi, neutral tones, rhythm. Learners who ace single-tone drills still mishear mǎi vs mài inside real words. Pair-level recognition is the skill that transfers to conversation.
Speed forces automaticity
Native speech gives you no thinking time. The untimed Tone Pairs Quiz builds the knowledge; the falling-word timer converts it into reflex. If you can name the pattern before the tile lands, you can catch it in a real sentence.
Ear first, memory second
Listening mode pays 2× because the audio-only challenge is the real one. Reading mode still earns its keep: it shows dian nao with no marks and no sound, so you have to know that 电脑 is diànnǎo — the tones you need to say a word, not just hear it. Then try the Pinyin Dictation game.