<p>I am a native speaker. The term 回来了 is of course pronounced with ㄏㄨㄟˊ ㄌㄞˊ ㄌㄜ˙, so the second character is pronounced with 2nd tone. And the word 来 can only be pronounced with 2nd tone. (I've never heard 4th tone.)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-06T14:42:54.493Z
2019-06-06T14:42:54.493Z
alan23273850
<p>The intonation of Chinese characters has basically been fixed by dictionaries or other officially defined textbooks, and multiple pronunciations and applicable situations of the same Chinese character have also been explained, so there are no rules related to tone change. Taking &quot;coming back&quot; as an example, there are generally two situations where the fourth sound of lài is made:</p>
<ol>
<li>In the northeastern region of China, the local accent is commonly pronounced as lài.</li>
<li>Emotional behaviors such as arguments and arguments can lead to abnormal pronunciation.</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-04T02:45:59.183Z
2024-06-04T02:45:59.183Z
verus
<p>Single character will have generally accepted tone or tones，but when used in combination with the others，things may get more complex. It is even better for you if you can remember which tones are not commonly used instead of the “correct” for a character in a phrase. In this case，I would say the third tone is not quite common，but you may hear the rest from time to time as they kinda show different emotions or hidden intentions.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-06T01:04:43.430Z
2019-06-06T06:02:54.403Z
2019-06-06T06:02:54.403Z
Jonathan Strange
<p>The pronunciation of 来 alone is lái (second tone), but when used as after a verb indicating movement towards the speaker, it usually becomes toneless, which sounds like the fourth tone to some extent. For example: 回来 (huílai), 过来 (guòlai), 下来 (xiàlai), 进来 (jìnlai). I've never heard of 来 pronounced as lài (fourth tone).</p>
<p>It's also interesting to note that 来 and 了 are both toneless here. In this situation, 来 is pronounced slightly higher than 了, which makes it have a descending trend, sounding more similar to the fourth tone.</p>
<p>The statements above only holds true in northern China. People in different regions may have different accents.</p>
<p>PS: Wiktionary is really comprehensive about tone changes (you need to click on &quot;more&quot; in the Pronunciation section to expand details), so you can use that as a good reference.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-16T16:29:06.250Z
2024-06-16T16:35:38.867Z
2024-06-16T16:35:38.867Z
lhy7889678
<p>I almost always hear 来 pronounced as lài in 回来了, but are there any rules of tone sandhi that account for this?</p>

<pronunciation><tones>
Should the second character in 回来了 be pronounced with second or fourth tone?
# Should the second character in 回来了 be pronounced with second or fourth tone?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-06-05)

I almost always hear 来 pronounced as lài in 回来了, but are there any rules of tone sandhi that account for this?

**Tags:** pronunciation, tones


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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-06-06. Score: 3

I am a native speaker. The term 回来了 is of course pronounced with ㄏㄨㄟˊ ㄌㄞˊ ㄌㄜ˙, so the second character is pronounced with 2nd tone. And the word 来 can only be pronounced with 2nd tone. (I've never heard 4th tone.)


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### Answer by username_2 on 2024-06-04. Score: 1

The intonation of Chinese characters has basically been fixed by dictionaries or other officially defined textbooks, and multiple pronunciations and applicable situations of the same Chinese character have also been explained, so there are no rules related to tone change. Taking "coming back" as an example, there are generally two situations where the fourth sound of lài is made:

1. In the northeastern region of China, the local accent is commonly pronounced as lài.
2. Emotional behaviors such as arguments and arguments can lead to abnormal pronunciation.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2019-06-06. Score: 0

Single character will have generally accepted tone or tones，but when used in combination with the others，things may get more complex. It is even better for you if you can remember which tones are not commonly used instead of the “correct” for a character in a phrase. In this case，I would say the third tone is not quite common，but you may hear the rest from time to time as they kinda show different emotions or hidden intentions.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2024-06-16. Score: 0

The pronunciation of 来 alone is lái (second tone), but when used as after a verb indicating movement towards the speaker, it usually becomes toneless, which sounds like the fourth tone to some extent. For example: 回来 (huílai), 过来 (guòlai), 下来 (xiàlai), 进来 (jìnlai). I've never heard of 来 pronounced as lài (fourth tone).

It's also interesting to note that 来 and 了 are both toneless here. In this situation, 来 is pronounced slightly higher than 了, which makes it have a descending trend, sounding more similar to the fourth tone.

The statements above only holds true in northern China. People in different regions may have different accents.

PS: Wiktionary is really comprehensive about tone changes (you need to click on "more" in the Pronunciation section to expand details), so you can use that as a good reference.


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