CHINESE SECOND TONE
The Chinese Second Tone is also known as “The Rising Tone”. In Chinese, it is called 二声(èr shēng), literally meaning “the second sound”. In this lesson, we will be practicing the Mandarin Pinyin Second Tone with Tone Pairs and sentences.
How to Pronounce Mandarin Pinyin Second Tone
It starts semi-high and goes up. And because of this, it is also called "The Middle Rising Tone".
Practice Mandarin Pinyin Second Tone
SECOND TONE + FIRST TONE
| TONE PAIRS | ||
|---|---|---|
| PĪNYĪN | 汉字 | ENGLISH |
| zuó tiān | 昨天 | yesterday |
| fáng jiān | 房间 | room |
| shí jiān | 时间 | time |
| lí kāi | 离开 | to leave |
| xióng māo | 熊猫 | panda |
| SENTENCE | ||
| zuó tiān lí kāi fáng jiān | ||
| 昨天离开房间。 | ||
| (Someone) left the room yesterday. | ||
SECOND TONE + THIRD TONE
| TONE PAIRS | ||
|---|---|---|
| PĪNYĪN | 汉字 | ENGLISH |
| píng guǒ | 苹果 | apple |
| méi yǒu | 没有 | not; not have; without |
| niú nǎi | 牛奶 | milk |
| yóu yǒng | 游泳 | to swim |
| yá chǐ | 牙齿 | tooth |
| SENTENCE | ||
| méi yǒu ná píng guǒ hé niú nǎi | ||
| 没有拿苹果和牛奶。 | ||
| (Someone) hasn’t take the apple or the milk. | ||
SECOND TONE + FOURTH TONE
| TONE PAIRS | ||
|---|---|---|
| PĪNYĪN | 汉字 | ENGLISH |
| qián miàn | 前面 | front |
| yán sè | 颜色 | color |
| yí yàng | 一样 | the same |
| wén huà | 文化 | culture |
| xí guàn | 习惯 | customes |
| SENTENCE | ||
| wén huà hé xí guàn yí yàng | ||
| 文化和习惯一样。 | ||
| (Their) cultures and customes are the same. | ||
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Here I missed 2 2, though in the sentence méi yǒu ná píng guǒ hé niú nǎi it did occur by accident in the hé niú. Is there a special reason for not covering repeated same tones (other than 3 3 later)?
3rd Tone + 3rd Tone is one of the most important Tone Change in Chinese pronunciation, if not the most important. If we speak without the Tone Change for 3rd Tone + 3rd Tone, then it’s not correct, but with 2nd Tone + 2nd Tone, if we speak with the exact same pitch range for both syllables, it would not be considered incorrect. That is why for repetition of same Tones, we only cover the ones where Tone Change has to be involved.