Speak Like a Native English Speaker in 5 Easy Steps

English has a melody. If you speak with the same tone all the time, it sounds robotic. Some languages have a variety of tones that can affect the meaning of a word. For example, Chinese and Thai have 5 main tones, and Vietnamese has 6 – although there are some differences in local dialects. However, English mainly uses three tones.

What is also important is that in English we tend to change the tone on a word to change the meaning of a phrase, rather than just one word.

The main tones are

1. Rising ⬆️ 
2. Falling ⬇️
3. Falling-rising ↘️ ↗️

👇🏻 Statements Tend to be Falling Tone

• I live in Spain. ⬇️
• I like it a lot. ⬇️

☝️ Yes/No Questions Tend to be Rising Tone

• Do you like it? ⬆️
• Can you swim? ⬆️

🤔 Either/Or Questions Tend to Rise then Fall

• Do you want coffee ⬆️ or tea ⬇️?

🤔 Relative Clauses Tend to Rise then Fall

• If I had a lot of money ⬆️, I’d be really happy ⬇️.