Xiànzài jǐ diǎn? means “What time is it?” – the first longer sentence of the training, built from four images.
You ask a singing Englishman wearing a sharp-edged zip: singing, England and the sharp edge give you xiàn. He looks at his watch, whose hand is pointed at the tip: zài, falling. In his other hand he holds a cup with skis on it, and those skis are as springy as a trampoline – cup and skis give you jǐ, with the trampoline marking the third tone. Every Tuesday, ducks with soft fur land on those skis, standing on a trampoline again: Tuesday (Dienstag in German) and ducks give you diǎn.
Four syllables, four tones – and every tone has its own marker in the image.