HSK 1: Vocabulary and phonetics of lesson 5

Learn Chinese: phonetic and vocabulary 5

Note: when a translation of a character is in brackets, this means that this character cannot be used alone. This does not mean that it has no meaning, just as the roots of words in our Western languages.

yī : one. As with negation 不 bù, syllable yī changes its tone according to the tone of the syllable that follows.These are the only two syllables that change tone in Mandarin Chinese.
The rule is as follows: when followed by a falling tone (mà) number "one" yī changes to rising tone.
For example: yí gè.
Before the three others tones (high mā, risingmá and low mǎ) the number "one" yī changes to falling tone: yì.
For example: yì tiān, yì huír, yì qǐ.
Before a neutral tone syllable (ma), the tone of the number "one" doesn't change:

As a reminder, the change of tone for negation 不 bù is as follows:
before a falling tone syllable, negation bù changes to rising tone: bú. Example: 不是 bú shì

Apart from these two tone change rules, we have previously seen a third more general rule in lesson 3, that is:
when 2 low tones follow each other in a row, the first syllable changes to rising tone:
- nǐhǎo is actually pronounced like this níhǎo

Does that seem a bit difficult? Don't worry, these are the only three tone change rules you need to know to learn Chinese Mandarin. There are others, but it concerns linguists more than those who want to learn to speak Chinese. The most important thing is to try to imitate the recordings. Tone changes will then come naturally to you.

èr : two