All 150 HSK 1 words. Pinyin is coloured by tone — 1st flat, 2nd rising, 3rd dipping, 4th falling, neutral. Tap the speaker to hear a word, tap a row for the example sentence and a memory hint, and tick a word once you know it.
Keyboard: space flip · → next · ← back · k got it · p play
The four tones (and the fifth that isn't one)
Every Mandarin syllable carries a pitch shape, and the shape changes the word: mā is mother, mǎ is horse. Linguists draw tones on a five-level scale, 1 low to 5 high. Play each one, then say it back — exaggerate at first; native speakers do too.
Tone changes you will hear constantly
Sounds English doesn't have
Pinyin borrows Latin letters but not their English values. These are the initials (consonants) HSK 1 learners trip on most. The key idea is tongue position: three families of hissing sounds, made at three places in the mouth.
| Pinyin | How to make it | Try it |
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Finals that don't sound like they're spelled
| Pinyin | Sounds like | Try it |
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How to practise with this page
Work through one category a day in the word list: listen, repeat aloud three times, and only tick “learned” once you can say the tone without looking at the colour. Then run the flashcards for that category with Show English — recalling the Chinese from the meaning is the harder, more useful direction. Finish with a ten-question quiz; the listening questions are the real test of your ears.
Audio uses your device's built-in Chinese voice. On a Mac or iPhone that is usually “Tingting” or “Meijia”; on Windows it is “Huihui”; on Android, Google's Chinese voice. If nothing plays, install a Chinese (Mandarin, Simplified) voice in your system's speech settings.