One third tone after another

Here’s something interesting about tones: When you have to say one third tone fol-

lowed by another third tone out loud in consecutive fashion, the first one actually

becomes a second tone. If you hear someone say Tā hěn hǎo. 她很好. (Tah hun

how.) (She’s very well.), you may not realize that both hěn 很 and hǎo 好 individually

are third-tone syllables. It sounds like hén is a second tone and hǎo is a full third

tone.

Half-third tones

Whenever a third tone is followed by any of the other tones — first, second, fourth,

or even a neutral tone — it becomes a half-third tone. You pronounce only the

first half of the tone — the falling half — before you pronounce the other syllables

.

/up

-Middle /up /up

-Middle

\Down

-Middle

\Down

\Down

.

CHHHIIIIINNG! Channng !CHHHHoooonng