<p>The short answer is that you can know only from context and experience.  Sometimes you must consult a dictionary to find which pronunciation is mandatory, recommended, acceptable, or optional.  Sometimes, usage hesitates, since modern Mandarin is somewhat of a regulated language at odds with usage that is actually often varied.</p>
<p>With some proper names, you even have to ask the owner of the name or consult a reliable historical reference to know which of several possible pronunciations is correct.</p>
<p>Examples:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>他们来得了 (They can/could come)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Here you will assume the pronunciation liǎo for 了 to make sense of the statement.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>流血</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sometimes there is hesitation in usage: e.g.,</p>
<p>The expression 流血 can be read as liúxuè, liúxuě, liúxiě.  The reading xuè is the &quot;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_and_colloquial_readings" rel="nofollow noreferrer">literary</a>&quot; reading.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>血债要用血来偿 (&quot;Blood debts must be paid in blood&quot;, or &quot;Blood will have
blood&quot;)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Since 血债 is a literary expression, my Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian on Pleco recommends xuèzhài, but <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%A1%80%E5%82%B5#Chinese" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wiktionary</a> shows that usage in fact varies between  xuèzhài, xuězhài, xiězhài.</p>
<p>For 用血, the Xiandai Hanyu Guifan recommends for this same saying that you should say xiě, since you are using it independently outside of a compound.  I would guess that actual usage again varies.  If you abbreviate this saying to 血债血偿, I think you would have to use the same pronunciation for 血 in both places for reasons of euphony, which is what <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%A1%80%E5%82%B5%E8%A1%80%E5%84%9F#Chinese" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wiktionary</a> shows (xuèzhàixuècháng, xuězhàixuěcháng, xiězhàixiěcháng).</p>
<blockquote>
<p>华</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For 华侨 (&quot;overseas Chinese&quot;), only huá is possible.</p>
<p>As a surname or proper noun, only huà is normal, as in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Guofeng" rel="nofollow noreferrer">华国锋</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hua" rel="nofollow noreferrer">华山</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-11-22T19:12:54.280Z
2024-11-22T19:12:54.280Z
Vegawatcher
<p>As many people would know, there are a few characters with multiple pinyin transcriptions, such as 了 (le/liǎo) or 觉(jué/jiào). How can I, when one of these such characters is used, figure out what the pinyin is and therefore the meaning without Google Translate or one of my ten Chinese friends?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-11-12T22:42:55.857Z
Similar to the word "read". What is the pronunciation?
PdotWang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-11-13T00:55:58.480Z
Trying to memorize seems the only way, maybe starting from two-syllable words? 
(in most cases) The polyphones in words have interchangable pronunciation, like 午觉jiào and 自觉jué.
zrsammy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-11-14T13:06:48.287Z
Possible duplicate of https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/2007/tips-for-multiple-pronunciation-characters-%e5%a4%9a%e9%9f%b3%e5%ad%97
goPlayerJuggler
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-11-23T02:29:28.383Z
These words, 了, 觉, are always paired with some other words, fore or aft, to give them the proper semantic context. Thus with past experiential readings, you would be able to tell, precognitively, their proper pronunciation nuances. Only lots of reading of these and other words in various combinations can give you that. Just like 好 which is pronounced "Hǎo" meaning "good", but pronounced 好斗 "Hào dòu" when it means having the propensity for being quarrelsome / combative. If you are looking for Rules to assist, there are 3 clichéd ones; Practice, Practice, Practice.
Wayne Cheah
<grammar><meaning><pronunciation><character-identification><pinyin>
Characters with Multiple Pinyin Transcriptions
# Characters with Multiple Pinyin Transcriptions

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-11-12)

As many people would know, there are a few characters with multiple pinyin transcriptions, such as 了 (le/liǎo) or 觉(jué/jiào). How can I, when one of these such characters is used, figure out what the pinyin is and therefore the meaning without Google Translate or one of my ten Chinese friends?

**Tags:** grammar, meaning, pronunciation, character-identification, pinyin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Similar to the word "read". What is the pronunciation?  
> **username_2**: Trying to memorize seems the only way, maybe starting from two-syllable words?  (in most cases) The polyphones in words have interchangable pronunciation, like 午觉jiào and 自觉jué.  
> **username_3**: Possible duplicate of https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/2007/tips-for-multiple-pronunciation-characters-%e5%a4%9a%e9%9f%b3%e5%ad%97  
> **username_4**: These words, 了, 觉, are always paired with some other words, fore or aft, to give them the proper semantic context. Thus with past experiential readings, you would be able to tell, precognitively, their proper pronunciation nuances. Only lots of reading of these and other words in various combinations can give you that. Just like 好 which is pronounced "Hǎo" meaning "good", but pronounced 好斗 "Hào dòu" when it means having the propensity for being quarrelsome / combative. If you are looking for Rules to assist, there are 3 clichéd ones; Practice, Practice, Practice.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2024-11-22. Score: 0

The short answer is that you can know only from context and experience. Sometimes you must consult a dictionary to find which pronunciation is mandatory, recommended, acceptable, or optional. Sometimes, usage hesitates, since modern Mandarin is somewhat of a regulated language at odds with usage that is actually often varied.

With some proper names, you even have to ask the owner of the name or consult a reliable historical reference to know which of several possible pronunciations is correct.

Examples:

> 他们来得了 (They can/could come)

Here you will assume the pronunciation liǎo for 了 to make sense of the statement.

> 流血

Sometimes there is hesitation in usage: e.g.,

The expression 流血 can be read as liúxuè, liúxuě, liúxiě. The reading xuè is the "[literary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_and_colloquial_readings)" reading.

> 血债要用血来偿 ("Blood debts must be paid in blood", or "Blood will have
> blood")

Since 血债 is a literary expression, my Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian on Pleco recommends xuèzhài, but [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%A1%80%E5%82%B5#Chinese) shows that usage in fact varies between xuèzhài, xuězhài, xiězhài.

For 用血, the Xiandai Hanyu Guifan recommends for this same saying that you should say xiě, since you are using it independently outside of a compound. I would guess that actual usage again varies. If you abbreviate this saying to 血债血偿, I think you would have to use the same pronunciation for 血 in both places for reasons of euphony, which is what [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%A1%80%E5%82%B5%E8%A1%80%E5%84%9F#Chinese) shows (xuèzhàixuècháng, xuězhàixuěcháng, xiězhàixiěcháng).

> 华

For 华侨 ("overseas Chinese"), only huá is possible.

As a surname or proper noun, only huà is normal, as in [华国锋](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Guofeng) or [华山](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hua).


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