Tone changes for third tones

Also known as: tone sandhi and 变调规则 (biàndiào guīzé).

Tone Changes for Consecutive Third Tones

When a 3rd tone (such as “yě”) is followed by another 3rd tone in a group, the first 3rd tone changes to a 2nd tone (such as “yé”).

Examples

Remember, normally you do not write the tone change. We're just doing it here to make it extra clear.

• 你好 níhǎo hi
• 很 好 hén hǎo very good
• 可以 kéyǐ can, may
• 所以 suóyǐ so, therefore
• 语法 yúfǎ grammar

Exceptions

While not exactly an "exception," sometimes multiple third tones in a row will be broken up by pauses. In this case, the last word/character in each "group" will be pronounced as a third tone. Beginners should not worry about this, as lots of third tones in a row is not super common.

Why Tone Changes Are Not Written

Normally the tone changes above are not written in the pinyin; you are supposed to just know the rule and apply it if you say the word(s) aloud. The reason for this is that in many cases if the tone change is written, you will be confused as to what the “normal” tone of a character is actually supposed to be. For example, you might wonder, “is this a third tone written as a second tone because it’s followed by a third tone, or is this character always a second tone?” Always writing the original tones solves this problem. But it also means that you really need to know your tone change rules. Learn them well!

An Alternative Way to Indicate Tone Changes

Some textbooks or software (such as Wenlin) indicate a tone change with a small dot under the letter with the tone mark. This can be nice for beginners, but it is not part of standard pinyin.

Sources and further reading

• Wikipedia: Tone sandhi: Mandarin Chinese

A2 pronunciation points