HSK 0 · Light syllables and common tone changes
Chinese Foundations トピック 3 3:11 英語での解説＋中国語での例文・キャプションは発話テキストに従います
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Transcript
Some syllables work less than others. The neutral tone is a quick, light tap with no tune of its own, the second beat of 妈妈. And three things bend when they meet: 不 rises before a fourth tone, 一 bends by its neighbour, and two third tones in a row turn the first one second. Lazy mouth, careful ears: the mouth takes the easy road, and your ear must keep the map.
The neutral tone is the light tap. 妈妈, mother, with a strong first beat and a light second tap. 谢谢, thanks: the second syllable leans on the first. 爸爸, father: the same. The tap is shorter, quieter and lower than a full tone, and it never carries a mark on the page. Family words take the tap most often, so practise them first.
不 on its own is fourth tone, 不. But before another fourth tone it rises: 不是, not is; 不去, not go. Before other tones it stays as it is: 不好, not good; 不喝, not drink. The reason is pure laziness in a good sense: two falling tones in a row are clumsy, so the first one rises instead.
一 on its own is first tone, 一, and it keeps that in ordinal numbers like 第一, the first. But in counting things it bends by its neighbour. Before a fourth tone it becomes second tone: 一个, one of. Before first, second or third tones it becomes fourth: 一天, one day; 一年, one year. Do not memorise the table as a list; say 一个，一天，一年 as whole words, and the mouth keeps the change for you.
Third tone is low and patient, and two lows in a row are hard work, so the first one rises. 你好, hello, is written with two third tones but spoken with the first one rising. 很好, very good, the same story. The writing keeps the original marks; only the mouth changes, and this is exactly why pinyin tapes seem to say it wrong: they are speaking, not spelling.
Watch out for two things. The neutral tap is not a full tone said quietly: it is shorter, and it never carries a mark. And the tone changes stay in the mouth: 你好 keeps its written tones on the page, so retrain the ear, not the spelling, and say whole words rather than rule lists.
Check yourself. Which syllable of 妈妈 is the light tap? In 不是, is the first syllable fourth tone or second? In 一个, is the first syllable first, second or fourth tone? And 你好, written with two third tones: what does the mouth do? If the bends land by themselves, your speech is starting to sound Chinese.