The Neutral Tone
The second characters in the word below are all pronounced in the neutral tone -- "輕聲" (qīngshēng) in Chinese.
桌子 (zhuō.zi; desk)
誰的 (shéi.de; whose)
耳朵 (ěr.duo; ear)
記得 (jì.de; remember)
The tone mark is usually omitted to indicate that a certain syllable has a neutral tone. Many dictionaries and textbooks also put a dot before a syllable in the neutral tone -- in this web site, we will follow this convention.
The Full 3rd Tone and the Half 3rd Tone
As is shown in the Chart of Pitch Contours of Mandarin Tones, a full third tone should begin from mid-low to low and then rise to mid-high pitch. But in spontaneous speech, the third tone is rarely pronounced in full. Say the following phrases/words as naturally as you can.
特別好 (tèbié hǎo)
(exceptionally good)
三百 (sānbǎi)
(three hundred years)
課本 (kèběn)
(textbook)
You will probably find that "hǎo", "bǎi", and "běn" did not rise at all when you said them. Instead, they started and stopped low. A third tone pronounced in this fashion is called a half third tone, because only the 2-1 part of the 2-1-4 full third tone contour is produced. Nevertheless, the tone mark remains the same in writing.
3rd + non-3rd Combination
First, think about the tonal contour of the full third tone, and pronounce "好" (good; hǎo).
Now say the four words below, paying special attention to how you pronounce"好" in these words.
好吃 (3rd + 1st)
(tasty; hǎochī)
好人 (3rd + 2nd)
(nice person; hǎorén)
好看 (3rd + 4th)
(pretty; hǎokàn)
好吧 (3rd + neutral)
(all right; hǎo.ba)
You will find that in these four words, "好" is pronounced in the half third tone -- there is no rising. Examples like this abound in speech: "每年" (měinián; every year), "老師" (lǎoshī; teacher), "眼睛" (yǎn.jing; eye) ...
Conclusion:
In speech, 3rd + non-3rd => half 3rd + non-3rd.
The tone mark remains the same in writing.
3rd + 3rd Combination
Now try these:
很好 (hěn hǎo)
(very good)
老虎.(lǎohǔ)
(tiger)
The "很" and "老" are neither pronounced in a full third tone, nor in a half third tone. Instead, their tonal pitch contour is the same as that of a second tone, like "來" (lái; come). And notice that 好 (hǎo) and 虎.(hǔ) are both in the half third tone.
Conclusion:
In speech, 3rd + 3rd => 2nd + 3rd.
The tone mark remains the same in writing.
A String of 3rd Tones
Consider this: 我只有兩本法語書. (Wǒ zhǐ yǒu liǎng běn Fǎyǔ shū; I only have two French books.) Which of the following is how you will say the sentence?
Wo (half 3rd)
zhi(2) you (half 3rd)
liang(2) ben(half 3rd)
Fa(2)yu(half 3rd) shū.
Wo (2)
zhi(2) you (half 3rd)
liang(2) ben(half 3rd)
Fa(2)yu(half 3rd) shū.
Both are acceptable. Notice how the sentence is divided into color-coded "groups of meaning", and how tones change accordingly.
* Things may seem a bit complex, but don't worry about this as long as you know the actual tone of a character when it is by itself, because you already have the phonologic knowledge.
4th + 4th Combination
You may have noticed that the two fourth tones in
作業 (zuòyè)
(homework)
漢字 (Hàn zì)
(Chinese character)
做夢 (zuòmèng)
(to dream)
are slightly different -- the second syllable sounds more "emphatic". You are right.
When one 4th tone is followed by another in a word, the first has a 5-3 pitch contour instead of a 5-5 one. Again, the tone mark does not change in writing.
"一" (yī; one) and "不" (bù; no/not)
(1) 一/不 + 4th => 2nd yí/bú + 4th
一萬 (yíwàn)
(ten thousand)
一塊 (yíkuài)
(one dollar)
一半 (yíbàn)
( a half)
不貴 (búguì)
(not expensive)
不對 (búduì)
(not correct)
不慢 (búmàn)
(not slow)
(2) 一/不 + non-4th => 4th yì/bù + non-4th
一天 (yìtiān)
(a day)
一生 (yìshēng)
(one's whole life)
不多 (bùduō)
(not many/much)
不吃 (bùchī)
(not eat)
一年 (yìnián)
(a year)
一群 (yíqún)
(a group of)
不難 (bùnán)
(not difficult)
不忙 (bùmáng)
(not busy)
一晚 (yìwǎn) ***
(one night)
一早 (yìzǎo)
(early in the morning)
不晚 (bùwǎn)
(not late)
不早 (bùzǎo)
(not early)
* "一" is pronounced in the first tone (yī) when it refers to "1", the number.
** Both the original first tone of "一" and the actual tone in speech are accepted in writing. The same holds for "不".
*** 晚 (wǎn) and 早 (zǎo) are pronounced in the half third tone here.
