Page 13 - Chinese

In Mandarin Chinese, some words are pronounced in neutral tone. The neutral tone is
short，lightly and quickly without a tonal mark. It is pronounced slightly low if used
after the character in the first second and fourth tones and slightly high if used after the
character in the third tone, for example:
一年级 Form One 一年级
妈妈māma、爷爷yéye、姐姐Jiějie、弟弟dìdi。
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Notes

（1）三声变调 Change of the third tone

(a) 两个三声音节连在一起时，前一个音节变为第二声，如“你好
nǐ hǎo” 的实际读音是“ní hǎo” 。

When two third-tones syllables appear in a row, the former is pronounced
in the second tone. For example, “你好 nǐ hǎo” is pronounced as “ní hǎo”

(b) 三声在第一、二、四声和大部分轻声前边时，要变成半三声。

半三声就是只读原来三声的前一半声调，如“你们 nǐmen”。
When a third-tones syllable is followed by a first, second, fourth, or a
neutral tone syllable, it retains only the first half tone, which we call the
half-third tone. For example, 你们 Nǐmen.

（2）“一”字的变调 Change in the tone of “yī”

(a) “一”字的本调是第一声yī。单念、表示数字或在末尾时读本调“yī”
。如第一（dìyī，first）、十一（shíyī，eleven）统一( tǒng yī， unify )。
“一” is originally pronounced in the 1 tone (yī), when “一” is used alone or
st
in a number, its tone doesn’t change. For example, 第一（dì-yī，first）,
十一（shíyī，eleven）, 统一( tǒng yī， unify ).

(b) “一”字在第一、二、三、四声yì：音节前读第四声。比如：

一天（yì tiān, a day）、一年（yì nián, a year）或一起（yìqǐ, together）。

中学汉语学生用书
5 Chinese for Secondary Schools Student’s Book

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