Listening: Basic Auditory Perception & Discrimination A2 - Lesson 3: Recognizing Basic Intonation Patterns (questions vs. statements reliably)

🎧Auditory Perception: A2 - Basic Intonation

Learning Objectives: By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Understand that intonation (the "music" of the voice) is different for statements and questions.
• Reliably identify if a sentence is a statement (falling intonation ↘) or a yes/no question (rising intonation ↗).
• Feel more confident knowing if someone is asking you something or telling you something.

Key Concepts: The Music of Speech

Intonation is the way our voice goes up and down when we speak. It's like music, and it helps show our meaning. Let's learn two basic patterns. Hover over (or tap) the cards below.

Falling Intonation ↘

The voice goes down at the end. We use this for statements (telling facts).
Example: "My name is Dara.↘"

Rising Intonation ↗

The voice goes up at the end. We use this for Yes/No questions.
Example: "Is your name Dara?↗"

✍️ Practice Activities

Activity 1: Check the Rule

Based on the concepts, answer the questions about intonation.

1. For a simple Yes/No question, the intonation usually goes...

Up ↗

Down ↘

2. For a simple statement, the intonation usually goes...

Up ↗

Down ↘

Activity 2: Statement or Question?

Click "Listen" to hear a sentence. Decide if it is a Statement (voice goes down) or a Question (voice goes up).

Note: Browser TTS will try to use the correct intonation. Listen carefully to the "music" at the end of the sentence!

1.

Statement ↘

Question ↗

2.

Statement ↘

Question ↗

Activity 3: Which One is the Question?

You will see two "Listen" buttons for the same words. One is a statement, and one is a question. Click both to listen, then choose which one was the question (voice goes up ↗).

Listen to both:

Which one was the question?

Listen A

Listen B

🚀 Listening Strategies

• Pay attention to the end of the sentence. That's where the intonation changes most clearly.
• If you hear the voice go up ↗, the speaker is probably asking a Yes/No question.
• If you hear the voice go down ↘, the speaker is probably making a statement.
• Practice saying statements and questions yourself to feel the difference in your own voice.

Summary: In this lesson, you learned about rising and falling intonation. This "music of speech" is a very important clue in English. Recognizing if a voice goes up or down can help you instantly know if you are being asked a question or told a fact.