HSK 1 Four-Tone Drill Cards — 40 Minimal-Pair Tone Practice Cards (Printable PDF)

Tone mix-ups are the first wall beginners hit — mā vs mà, shī vs shì — and a vocab worksheet won’t fix them. HSK 1 Four-Tone Drill Cards from HSK Study Studio is a printable cut-out pack of 40 minimal-pair tone cards: ten classic same-syllable four-tone sets (妈 / 麻 / 马 / 骂 and nine more high-frequency beginner syllables). Each card face shows large tone-marked pinyin, the simplified character, a short English gloss, a tone-color bar, and a card number. A one-page tutor how-to covers cutting, an 8-minute two-person drill, and a 5-minute class warm-up. Print on US Letter (cardstock if you can), cut on the dashed lines, and run listening-first drills without hunting through a word list. Built for New HSK 1 / beginner classrooms and self-study — a tone gym, not another vocabulary list.

What’s included:

– 40 cut-out drill cards (10 four-tone sets × 4 tones)

– Large pinyin with tone marks + simplified character + English gloss on every card

– Tone-color bars (1st red · 2nd orange · 3rd green · 4th blue) for covered-pinyin drills

– 1-page tutor how-to: how to cut, 2-person drill routine, 5-minute warm-up

– Cover page with print tips

– Print-ready US Letter with dashed cut guides

– Personal or classroom use; please do not resell or redistribute the file

Made by Chen Liu / HSK Study Studio. Independent study aid — not affiliated with or endorsed by official HSK organizers. AI-assisted and human-edited. No exam-score guarantee.

A free beginner sample (first 50 flashcards) is also in this shop if you want to try the studio first.