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33 -> 23 Examples:
- 可以 kěyǐ kéyǐ may, can
- 有点儿 yǒudiǎnr yóudiǎnr a little (too); somewhat
- 想法 xiǎngfǎ xiángfǎ idea, thinking
- 所以 suǒyǐ suóyǐ so, therefore
- 老板 lǎobǎn láobǎn boss
Here are examples of popular two simple third-tone words : -
很 好 hěn hǎo hén hǎo very good
- 很 小 hěn xiǎo hén xiǎo very small
- 很 早 hěn zǎo hén zǎo very early
- 很 少 hěn shǎo hén shǎo very few; rarely
- 很 远 hěn yuǎn hén yuǎn very far
Multiple Consecutive Third Tones
In theory, all third tones would become second tone except for the very last one. In practice, such a "string" of third tones doesn't usually go beyond three in a row. This is because in natural speech multiple third tones in a row will usually broken up by pauses. In this case, the last word/character in each "group" will be pronounced as a third tone. So, in theory, it would go like this:
3-3-3-3-3-3 → 2-2-2-2-2-3
In practice, it usually goes something like this:
3-3-3-3-3-3 → 2-2-3, 2-2-3
- 我想起你了 (wǒ xiǎng qǐ nǐ le)
- 老虎管理老鼠 (lǎo hǔ guǎn lǐ lǎo shǔ)
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