neutral tone; light tone
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 5 examplesnoun
neutral tone; light, unstressed syllable in Mandarin
neutralA specific feature of Mandarin phonetics. Grammatical particles (e.g., 了, 着, 的) and suffixes (e.g., 子, 头) are typically neutral-toned. Also often occurs on the second syllable of certain disyllabic words, affecting tone sandhi.
“
le了
”
zài在
jù句
zi子
mò末
wěi尾
tōng通
cháng常
dú读
qīng轻
shēng声
。
"Le" is usually pronounced with a neutral tone at the end of a sentence.
“
mā妈
ma妈
”
zhè这
ge个
cí词
，
dì第
èr二
ge个
zì字
shì是
qīng轻
shēng声
。
In the word "māma," the second syllable is in the neutral tone.
Show 3 more examplesShow fewer examples
Tā他
de的
shēng声
yīn音
hěn很
qīng轻
róu柔
，
jī几
hū乎
quán全
shì是
qīng轻
shēng声
。
His voice was very soft, almost entirely in a light tone.
“
dì地
fang方
”
de的
“
fang方
”
zì字
zài在
zhè这
lǐ里
shì是
qīng轻
shēng声
。
The character "fang" in "dìfang" is pronounced with a neutral tone here.
Xué学
xí习
Hàn汉
yǔ语
fā发
yīn音
，
bì必
xū须
zhǎng掌
wò握
qīng轻
shēng声
de的
guī规
lǜ律
。
To learn Mandarin pronunciation, one must master the rules of the neutral tone.