Intonation is the way the pitch of a voice goes up and down (falling and rising pitch) and is essential in expressing our meaning.

In many languages changing the pitch or tone of a word can change its meaning. In English we also uses different tones, but we generally use them to show a change in the meaning of a phrase, not just a word. 

For example, if I say the following with a rising tone on the last word, it probably means ‘this is very good.’ 

Well that’s great!

However, it I put a falling tone on the last word, it will more likely mean the opposite, ‘that is terrible’.

Intonation is hard to learn because there are no hard and fast rules. It is something we tend to pick up the more we engage with English. 

That said, there are some general guidelines and examples that can be helpful. 

Questions.

Closed questions (What, When, Why, Who, Which, How…) usually have a falling intonation. 

What time are you coming? ➘

Open questions (yes/no questions) usually have a. arising intonation. 

Are you coming?➚

With lists, we often use rising intonation on the first items, and then use a falling intonation on the last one. So, in the example, elephant and tiger have a rising tone, but monkeys has a falling one.

I like elephant➚, tigers➚ and monkeys➘

Conditionals commonly have a rising intonation on the first phrase, and falling on the second.

If you win➚, you will get a prize➘