买 mǎi = buy 卖 mài = sell

Nearly the same character, opposite meanings, and the tone is what your listener hears first.

🎒 What you need

a large piece of cardboard
a marker or charcoal
a partner

✋ Do this

Write 买 mǎi and 卖 mài on cardboard, very large, one on each side. Note that 卖 has an extra stroke on top — the seller has something on their head to carry to market.
Above each character draw the tone shape as a line: a dipping valley for mǎi, a steep drop for mài.
Say each ten times with a matching hand movement. Dip for third tone, chop down for fourth.
Do the same with 水 shuǐ (water) and 睡 shuì (sleep). Write both, mark both tone lines, say both twenty times.
Hold up a card at random and have a partner say the word with the correct tone. Swap. Ten rounds each.
Leave both cardboard sheets on the wall where you sit. You will glance at them a hundred times this week.

💡 Why it works

Drawing the tone as a line above the character binds the pitch to the word visually, so you cannot store the word without the tone. Learners who file tones separately from vocabulary end up with a large vocabulary nobody can understand.

🔥 Challenge

Say mǎi or mài to a partner with your back turned and see whether they can tell buying from selling.

📖 New words

买 mǎito buy

卖 màito sell

水 shuǐwater

睡 shuìto sleep

东西 dōngxithing; stuff

📈

Buy Or Sell

Tap when you have finished this module.