Tone Lesson 5 – The Third Tone – Original Full Third Tone
CHINESE THIRD TONE: PRONUNCIATION 1 - ORIGINAL FULL THIRD TONE
The Chinese Third Tone is called 三声(sān shēng) in Chinese, literally meaning "the third sound". The Mandarin Pinyin Third Tone might need some extra practice than the other Tones, because it sometimes gets modified or changed in real life speaking. There are 3 ways in total to pronounce it:
- Original Full Third Tone Lesson 5
- Third Tone becomes Second Tone Lesson 6 Lesson 7
- Half Third Tone Lesson 8 Lesson 9
In today's lesson we will be focusing on No.1 - the Original Full Third Tone.
How to Pronounce Chinese Third Tone - Original Full Third Tone
As shown in the picture below, you start semi-high pitch, dips down, and then go up again. When speaking, if you finish the whole process of going down and then up again, you are pronouncing an Original Full Third Tone.
Mandarin Pinyin Third Tone Pronunciation Drills
FIRST TONE + THIRD TONE
| TONE PAIRS | ||
|---|---|---|
| PINYIN | CHINESE | ENGLISH |
| jī chǎng | 机场 | airport |
| kāi shǐ | 开始 | to start; to begin |
| dōng běi | 东北 | northeast |
| gōng lǐ | 公里 | kilometer |
| xīn kǔ | 辛苦 | hardworking |
| SENTENCE | ||
| jī chǎng zài dōng běi sān gōng lǐ | ||
| 机场在东北三公里。 | ||
| The airport is 3 kilometers to the northeast. | ||
SECOND TONE + THIRD TONE
| TONE PAIRS | ||
|---|---|---|
| PINYIN | CHINESE | ENGLISH |
| rú guǒ | 如果 | if |
| hái yǒu | 还有 | still have |
| cí diǎn | 词典 | dictionary |
| pí jiǔ | 啤酒 | beer |
| chéng yǔ | 成语 | Chinese idiom |
| SENTENCE | ||
| rú guǒ hái yǒu chéng yǔ cí diǎn | ||
| 如果还有成语词典。 | ||
| If (I) still have a Chinese idiom dictionary. | ||
FOURTH TONE + THIRD TONE
| TONE PAIRS | ||
|---|---|---|
| PINYIN | CHINESE | ENGLISH |
| bào zhǐ | 报纸 | newspaper |
| dì tiě | 地铁 | subway |
| lì shǐ | 历史 | history |
| shàng wǎng | 上网 | to go on the Internet |
| hàn yǔ | 汉语 | the Chinese language |
| SENTENCE | ||
| wǒ shàng wǎng kàn hàn yǔ bào zhǐ | ||
| 我上网看汉语报纸。 | ||
| I read Chinese newspaper on the internet. | ||
a lot of words are hard to comprehend as they are spoken so slowly compared to when the word is spoken in daily Chinese.
I listen to yours and then I go to online dictionary to listen to normal speed version.
It is good to have it slow to begin, but also a version at normal spoken speed could be useful ? just a suggestion.
thanks for great and inspiring lessons 🙂
Thanks for the suggestion. Normal speed is not provided because this course is for the purpose of pronunciation training where the only goal is for students to get acquainted with or improve pronunciation techniques like tongue and lips positions.
Each word is treated as syllables, as pronunciation units rather than vocabulary in conversation.
But we do provide normal speed in our structured courses where conversational skill is expected to be developed.
I’m not sure why, but I find the Third Tone much easier to distinguish than the rest. I’m struggling with the 4th Tone however. My ears cannot always tell the difference between the 4th and the 2nd tone. What can I do to improve on this?
I can tell them apart if I listen to a single word or so individually but when there are more than one word’s involved and both tones are used then I can’t tell them apart sometimes. I guess I’ll get better at it eventually.