I explain a little more about using intonation in English Hello everybody I thought that today you might be interested in listening to English intonation. English has two main "tones": a "rising" tone for questions, and a "falling" tone for statements and commands. Father: "Are you not going to play with your friends today?" Son: "No, I'm not" (slight falling sound on "not") Father: "Why not?" Son: "Because I feel ill" Father: "Oh dear! what is wrong? Son: "I fell over and banged my head and I have a headache!" Father: "Ok, I think you need to rest!..." question sound: "today?" statement: "I'm not" question: why not? (sympathetically) statement "I feel ill" question: "what is wrong?" statement: "I have a headache" command: "you need to rest!" This dialogue shows how we use the falling and rising tones for conversation a bit clearer.