cows

class of words

abbv: t3
Chinese:
full name:
alt name:
remark: When a 3rd tone (such as 也 “yě”) is followed by another 3rd tone in a group, the first 3rd tone changes to a 2nd tone (such as “yé”).
example:
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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