Mnemonics for Mandarin Tone Pairs

Memory Aid to Visualize Mandarin Tone Pairs

Mandarin tones are difficult to hear, pronounce, and remember; all three take time and practice. This guide
has been created to introduce a fun memory tool that can help you remember and visualize Mandarin tones.

Tones are abstract and easily slip out of our memories. To hook onto these slippery tones and bring tone pairs
into your long term memory, connect them with tangible objects by applying a mnemonic tool to help. The
Major System mnemonic turns numbers into words using the following structure:
1= d or t 2= n 3= m 4= r 5= L
Here are mnemonics to help remember the Major System:
1. d or t: ‘d’ and ‘t’ have a vertical line like the number “1” within each letter
2. n: ‘n’ goes up and then down, giving it two legs
3. m: ‘m’ has three legs
4. r: “four” ends with the letter ‘r’
5. L: in Roman numerals ‘L’ represents 50
To use the Major System, create a word for each number by freely adding vowels (aeiou), y, h, w, or silent
letters to the core letter. We want to choose words that are easy to visualize, so avoid abstract concepts:
1= dew, toy, tow 2= Neo (Matrix), win, Han (Solo) 3= mow, moo, Mao 4= row, raw, ray 5= lay, owl, hole

So the number ‘21’ is ‘2+1’ which equates to ‘n + d,t’ with possible words ‘nut,’ ‘nod,’ or ‘night.’ The number
‘421’ is ‘4+2+1’ which equates to ‘r+n+d,t” with possible words ‘runt’ or ‘round.’ Here are more examples:
11= duet, diet, tide, toad 13= dime, dome, tomb 32= men, moan, moon 45= rail, rule, Riley 3212= mountain, maintain

Now to tones; let’s first look at the 19 possible tone pairs for two-character words with a possible mnemonic
listed for each (remember that the third tone is almost always pronounced as a half-third tone and the neutral tone is listed as “5”):
Tones 1－ 2 / 3 ∨ 4 ﹨ 5 •
声调 d or t n m r L
1－ －－ －/ －∨ －﹨ －•
d or t TIDE TOWN DOME DOOR TAIL
2 / / － // /∨ /﹨ / •
n NUT NUN GNOME NAIR NAIL
3 ∨ ∨－ ∨/ = /∨ ∨﹨ ∨•
m MUD MONEY MIME MIRROR MAIL
4 ﹨ ﹨－ ﹨/ ﹨∨ ﹨﹨ ﹨•
r RAT RAIN RAM ROAR RAIL
* due to tone sandhi, tones 3-3 is pronounced as 2-3, thus there are 19 and not 20 tone pairs
Using the Major System mnemonic for tone pairs will allow you to have a “password” that provides access to
the pronunciation of the tone pair. Ideally, you will create your own mnemonic as this may be easier to
remember than one created by someone else, but make sure it is easy to visualize and not an abstract word
like ‘near,’ ‘not,’ or ‘more.’ Once you have selected and can repeatedly recall a mnemonic for each tone pair, the
next step is to choose a two-tone Chinese word for each of the 19 tone pairs. Then you just need to focus on
perfecting the pronunciation of those 19 words. For example:

Mnemonics for Mandarin Tone Pairs 1 www.studycli.org

 Mnemonics for Mandarin Tone Pairs
Memory Aid to Visualize Mandarin Tone Pairs

Tone Pair Examples

1dt 2n 3m 4r 5L
飞机 森林 公主 生病 妈妈
fēijī sēnlín gōngzhǔ shēngbìng māma
1dt
airplane forest princess sick mom
TIDE TOWN DOME DOOR TAIL
熊猫 邮局 啤酒 学校 胡子
xióngmāo yóujú píjiǔ xuéxiào húzi
2n
panda post office beer school beard
NUT NUN GNOME NAIR NAIL
手机 警察 美女 米饭 椅子
shǒujī jǐngchá měinǚ mǐfàn yǐzi
3m
cellphone police pretty girl rice a chair
MUD MONEY MIME MIRROR MAIL
面包 地图 厕所 电视 筷子
miànbāo dìtú cèsuǒ diànshì kuàizi
4r
bread a map toilet/WC TV chopsticks
RAT RAIN RAM ROAR RAIL
* remember that due to tone sandhi, tones 3-3 is actually pronounced as 2-3
Using mnemonic storytelling, create a fantastical story to link the Major System mnemonic with the matching
tone pair (the more visual and whacky, the better). Create your own story for each new word you learn, like this:
1-1: The high TIDE swallowed the airplane. 3-1: My cellphone is full of MUD.
1-2: The forest is growing atop a TOWN. 3-2: MONEY pours out of police.
1-3: The princess lives in a DOME. 3-3: The MIME would only perform for pretty girls.
1-4: The DOOR is sick people bound together. 3-4: The rice reflected like a MIRROR.
1-5: Her mother grew a long TAIL. 3-5: The chair was made from junk mail.

2-1: The panda cracks NUTS on his head. 4-1: Old bread turns into a RAT.
2-2: The NUN shipped herself from the post office. 4-2: RAIN started to fall from the map.
2-3: GNOMEs only drink beer. 4-3: The RAM burst into the bathroom.
2-4: The school removed student’s hair with NAIR. 4-4: My television will ROAR if I don’t watch it.
2-5: His beard is made of NAILS. 4-5: The train’s RAIL is made of chopsticks.
A Spaced Repetition System (SRS) should be used to help remember these 19 mnemonics and their matching
Chinese words. Then, when you learn a new word, connect it to either the Major System mnemonic or to a
previous word that has the same tones (ex. link watermelon (xīguā 西瓜) to TIDE (1-1) or to airplane (fēijī 飞机) or
to both). Once tones are transformed into words that can be used to create a visual image, you will be able to
remember tones much more easily, which in turn will help with hearing and pronouncing tones. Have fun!!!
Email bradford@studycli.org with any questions, suggestions, and/or success stories

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