Pinyin
Today we will focus on a special tone- neutral tone.
A character with a neutral tone will be pronounced in a short and light way.
The neutral tone doesn’t have a tone mark. If you see a syllable without a tone mark in pinyin, that means it is pronounced as a neutral tone.
There are 2 types of words usually containing neutral tone syllables.
- In words formed by 2 repetitive characters, the second one is usually read in the neutral tone.
| 爸爸bàba | 妈妈 māma |
| 爷爷 yéye | 奶奶 nǎinai |
| 星星xīngxing | 谢谢 xièxie |
| 看看 kànkan | 尝尝chángchang |
- In words ending with “们” “子” or “头”, the “们” “子” “头” are usually read in the neutral tone.
| 你们nǐmen | 我们 wǒmen | 他们 tāmen |
| 桌子zhuōzi | 杯子 bēizi | 椅子 yǐzi |
| 里头 lǐtou | 外头 wàitou | 石头 shítou |
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