Tone Lesson 13 – Chinese Tone Rules: Character 不
PINYIN TONE CHANGE: CHINESE CHARACTER BU 不 TONE SANDHI
In Chinese character bu 不 Tone Sandhi is a very common and important Pinyin Tone change rule. But it is pretty simple too. There are only two ways of pronunciation for character bu 不, the Fourth Tone, or the Second Tone. In this Mandarin Tone help video, we will learn and practice this Pinyin Tone Change with a lot of different Mandarin Tone combinations. You will be able to master the Chinese Character bu 不 Tone Sandhi in no time!
Chinese Character bu 不 Tone Sandhi
When the character 不 is by itself, it is pronounced in the Fourth Tone, bù. This is its original Tone. But its pronunciation changes when it is in different Mandarin Tone combinations. There are only two ways of pronunciation for Chinese character bu 不 Tone Sandhi. (1) Character bu 不 is in the Fourth Tone "bù" before the First, the Second, or the Third Tone(which is can sometimes be a Half Third Tone). (2) Character bu 不 is in the Second Tone "bú" before the Fourth Tone.
How to Write Chinese Character Bu 不 Tone Sandhi
As shown in the pictures above, when we write the Tone of character bu 不, we will write it the same Tone as we pronounce it. This is because the Pinyin Tone change here is not a change of the syllable, but a change of the character itself. We can see the character bu written in 不 (bù) and also 不 (bú). The same rule applies for the Character Yi 一 Tone Sandhi.
Pinyin Tone Change: Chinese Character Bu 不
Please watch the Mandarin Pinyin Tone help video on this page and practice the following Mandarin Tone combinations.
NO.1 2-syllable Words
Practice Chinese Character Bu 不 Tone Sandhi with the following words.
| PINYIN | 汉字 |
|---|---|
| bù kāi | 不开 |
| bù lái | 不来 |
| bù hǎo | 不好 |
| bú shì | 不是 |
NO.2 4-syllable Words
In the following Tone Groups, the character bu 不 are pronounced in two ways: bù and bú.
GROUP 1
| PINYIN | 汉字 |
|---|---|
| bú zuò bù xiū | 不做不休 |
| bú huì bù tīng | 不会不听 |
| bú yào bù 'ān | 不要不安 |
| bú màn bù zhī | 不蔓不支 |
GROUP 2
| PINYIN | 汉字 |
|---|---|
| bú guò bù xíng | 不过不行 |
| bú dàn bù tíng | 不但不停 |
| bú yòng bù tí | 不用不提 |
| bú zài bù tóng | 不再不同 |
GROUP 3
| PINYIN | 汉字 |
|---|---|
| bú shì bù zǒu | 不是不走 |
| bú gù bù guǎn | 不顾不管 |
| bú biàn bù gǎi | 不变不改 |
| bú dà bù xiǎo | 不大不小 |
GROUP 4
| PINYIN | 汉字 |
|---|---|
| bú duì bú cuò | 不对不错 |
| bú shàng bú xià | 不上不下 |
| bú kuài bú màn | 不快不慢 |
| bú pà bú wèn | 不怕不问 |
What is bu though?
No/not
Thanks.
Thank you very much for this lesson