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Tones & Pronunciation

Master Chinese tones
zh / ch / sh / r 声母
retroflex initials
zhū chū shū rú
Tongue-curled retroflex sounds
z / c / s 声母
sibilant initials
zī cī sī
Unaspirated z vs aspirated c
-n vs -ng 韵尾
nasal finals
mén vs méng
Distinction between nasal endings
ai / ei / ao / ou 复合韵母
compound finals
māi léi māo lóu
Diphthong finals
儿化 (érhuà)
rhotacization (Beijing)
nǎr zhèr
Adding r-suffix in northern speech
zhī vs jī — 两种 -i
two types of vowel i
zhī vs jī
Retroflex i vs palatal i
不 tone change: bù → bú
tone change for 不
bù → bú before 4th tone
bù becomes bú only before 4th tone
ü 的拼写规则
spelling rule for ü
nǚ lǚ — ju qu xu write as u
ü written as u after j/q/x
第三声 + 第三声 → 第二声 + 第三声
3rd+3rd tone sandhi
nǐ hǎo → níhǎo
Automatic tone change in speech
语调：陈述句 vs 疑问句
intonation: statement vs question
falling vs rising
Sentence-level intonation patterns