Hi, there! Nice to meet you again! In the previous lessons, we have learned almost everything about Pinyin. Today, you will learn some tips for making your Pinyin spelling and Chinese pronunciation more authentic.
Some are just a little tiny spelling symbol, but they are easy to be ignored. Some are tone changing rules, need you spend some time to practice and understand. And some are pronunciation technique, a bit of difficult, even for some native Chinese speakers. In addition, I have prepared more content for you to practice pronunciation.
Let’s get started.
Sound distinction symbol
When syllables beginning with ɑ, o or e go after other syllables, pronunciation confusion might occur. In such cases, the sound distinction symbol (’) is used to distinguish the syllables, such as Tiān’ān Mén天安门 (Tian’an Men, an ancient building in the center of Beijing).
The retroflex –r final
Since Mandarin Chinese mainly uses Beijing dialect as the standard pronunciation, there are many retroflex syllables, which is one of the main features for Beijing dialect.
The retroflex mainly exists in northern China accent. For other native Chinese speakers in southern China, Taiwan and Singapore, this pronunciation is also very challenging for them.
If you can't pronounce r-ending well, don't be discouraged. If you can, then native speaker who cannot make this sound will be very jealous of you.
Tones Changing Rules:3+3 →2+3
When a third tone is followed by another third tone, the first third tone should be pronounced in a rising sound, as a second tone. For example, nǐ hǎo(Chinese character:你好means “hello” in English) is pronounced as ní hǎo.
Tones Changing Rules: Tones Changing of Character “一” (yī)
Originally, “一” should read as the first tone - yī. However, when “一” is followed by other characters with a first, second, or third tone, “一” should be pronounced as a fourth tone. And when “一” followed by other character with a fourth tone, “一” should be pronounced as a second tone.
Here are the examples.
Original Pinyin | Pinyin After Changing | Chinese Characters | Meanings |
|---|---|---|---|
yī xiē | yì xiē | 一些 | adj. some |
yī zhí | yì zhí | 一直 | adv. always |
yī qǐ | yì qǐ | 一起 | adv. together |
yī biān | yì biān | 一边 | one side; at the same time |
yī diǎnr | yì diǎnr | 一点儿 | a few/little |
yī gòng | yí gòng. | 一共 | adv.& pron. all |
yī qiè | yí qiè | 一切 | pron. everything |
yī bàn | yí bàn | 一半 | n.& adj. half |
Tones Changing Rules: Tone Changing of Character “不” (bù)
Originally, “不” should read as the forth tone - bù. when “不” followed by other character with a forth tone, “不” should be pronounced as a second tone，a rising tone.
Here are the examples.
Original Pinyin | Pinyin After Changing | Chinese Characters | Meanings |
|---|---|---|---|
bù kuài | bú kuài | 不快 | adj. upset |
bù cuò | bú cuò | 不错 | not bad |
bù yào | bú yào | 不要 | do not want |
bù biàn | bú biàn | 不变 | adj. unchanged |
Exercise
Unlike most languages, for Chinese, same syllables with different tones may convey different meanings. Therefore, it is necessary to make every tone accurate.
Below are words made up of two Chinese characters，arranged in tone order, and the second character without tone mark is neutral tone. You can practice the following words as best as you can.
— — | fēng zhēng | shā fā | fēi jī | qiū tiān |
kite | sofa | airplane | autumn | |
— / | zhōng guó | huān yíng | xīn qíng | jīnnián |
China | welcome | mood | this year | |
— V | shēn tǐ | xiāng shuǐ | jī chǎng | qiān bǐ |
body | perfume | airport | pencil | |
— \ | gong zuò | chī fàn | sheng qì | yī yuàn |
work | eat meal | angry | hospital | |
— | tā men | gē ge | zhī dao | |
they | older brother | know | ||
/ — | zuó tiān | céng jīng | nián xīn | nián qīng |
yesterday | once | annual salary | young | |
/ / | cháng cháng | huáng hé | wén míng | rén mín |
often | Yellow River | civilization | people | |
/ V | méi yǒu | rén kǒu | chá guǎn | chí jiǔ |
do not have | population | tea house | lasting | |
/ \ | chí dào | hún dàn | nán kàn | yí yàng |
be late | asshole | ugly | the same | |
/ | míng zi | shí hou | péng you | xué sheng |
name | point of time | friend | student | |
V — | lǎo shī | běi jīng | ěr jī | shuǐ bēi |
teacher | Beijing | headphone | cup | |
V / | xiǎo shí | kě néng | shuǐ píng | fǎ guó |
hour | maybe | level | France | |
V V | xiǎng fǎ | guǎng chǎng | kǒng zǐ | hěn hǎo |
idea | square, plaza | Confucious | well | |
V \ | zhǔ fàn | dǎo luàn | xǐ cài | zhǔ yào |
cook meal | make trouble | wash vegetables | main | |
V | jiǎo zi | hǎo ba | wǎn shang | zǎo shang |
dumplings | all right | evening | morning | |
\ — | kè tīng | qì chē | dà shēng | fù qīn |
living room | car | loudly | father | |
\ / | dì tú | sì shí | Lùn wén | tòu míng |
map | forty | academic paper | transparent | |
\ V | rì běn | hàn yǔ | shàng hǎi | xiào guǒ |
Japan | Chinese language | Shanghai | effect | |
\ \ | zài jiàn | hàn zì | lǜ sè | xìng yùn |
goodbye | Chinese character | green | lucky | |
\ | xiè xie | dì fang | bà ba | yìng dù |
thank you | place | dad | hardness | |
-r final | nǎr | zhèr | yī diǎnr | nǚ háir |
where | here | a little/ few | girl |
Keep Practicing…
Congratulations, you have already completed all the lessons of Pinyin, this is no small achievement. If you want to pronounce Chinese well, you need to practice a lot. You can try to practice these Pinyin in Mini-test above.
The more you speak, the more opportunity you’ll get to practice them and the more perfect your Chinese will be! If you know any native Chinese-speakers, try and practice what you’ve learned with them.
Good luck and have fun!
