<p>Yes, I can attest that the sound exists in the southern provinces, though I couldn't pinpoint those locations other than Taiwan. I personally pronounce it both ways.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-04T15:39:52.753Z
Thanks for the confirmation, I thought I was going crazy! An interesting test: would you ever pronounce ”你什么时候去？“ as "ni2shen3me0...". Ie, does the third tone pronunciation of shen, when you do use it, apply a tone sandhi to a preceding 3rd tone?
Buddy L
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-04T16:53:27.027Z
Yes, that's the way I pronounce it - "ni2shen3me0..." with a lighter sound on 么.
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-04T17:13:24.453Z
You can play the recorded sound on the linked site below. But note that the tone indicated by the text wasn't correct. https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-04T11:23:51.663Z
2022-08-04T11:23:51.663Z
r13
<p>什么  shénme, this is the standard pinyin for 什么.
As to 什么 sounds like shen3me, it is used to get other people's attention, to emphasize being surprised, amazed. Since it is not a standard usage, you can not find this in dictionary.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-04T11:55:05.653Z
2022-08-04T11:55:05.653Z
Henryfrombeijing
<p>From Shenyang, Liaoning here: I'd say you'd have to go very very rural and fairly elderly people would say <code>shen3mo0</code>.</p>
<p>I think you'd struggle to find a northerner speaking with such a strong accent that they do <code>shen3</code> nowadays. However, you will find people from Taiwan mostly saying <code>shen3</code>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-05T20:16:31.593Z
2022-08-05T20:16:31.593Z
David Min
<p>Many times, different intonations in spoken Chinese express different meanings. For example, to express one's surprise or doubts</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-07T09:28:05.250Z
2022-08-07T09:28:05.250Z
Cool
<p>I was born n raised in Beijing. I would say shen3me is resoundingly non-standard in PTH. Whenever I hear it, I feel the speaker is either from Taiwan or some southern provinces speaking PTH with a local accent.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-12T08:15:14.163Z
2022-11-12T08:15:14.163Z
Geoffrey Chang
<p>The shen3 is in fact not a shen3, but an unstressed shen2. Its tone numeral is 35, but weakened to a 3.</p>
<p>The me0 is a weakened me1. Its tone numeral is 5 (the so-called neutral tone, essentially an unstressed 55).</p>
<p>So the &quot;shen3me0&quot; is in fact 3-&gt;5.</p>
<p>The unstressed 3 sounds close to the third tone with tone numeral 214. The overall contour of the third tone is a dipping one but 214 is sometimes weakened to a flat 3.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, shen2me0 is 35-&gt;31.</p>
<p>So why not just pronounce it as 35-&gt;31?</p>
<ol>
<li>A possible reason: shenme is often used to raise a question.</li>
</ol>
<p>When raising a question we unconsciously raise the tone of our voice. This in turn makes the pitch of syllables at the beginning of a sentence/phrase lower than the pitch of those at the end. When the first syllable is a 35 (the second tone) and second syllable a 5, the first syllable is lowered and weakened to a 3, making it sound like the unstressed third tone.</p>
<ol start="2">
<li>Another possible reason: shenme appears in weishenme.</li>
</ol>
<p>The standard pronunciation for weishenme is wei4shen2me, but it is often pronounced as wei4shen0me0. The shen is weakened to shen0. Its tone numeral is 3 and again, close to the weakened version of the unstressed third tone. Some would consider the pronunciation of every shenme to be the same as the pronunciation of shenme in weishenme.</p>
<ol start="3">
<li>A third possible reason: the speaker's native tone.</li>
</ol>
<p>In some languages/dialects such as Lower Yangtze Mandarin, Gan, Xiang, Southern Min, Cantonese, and a few Wu varieties, either 什 or 甚 has a relatively low and flat pitch and sounds similar to the unstressed third tone in Mandarin.</p>
<p>Note that these 2 different characters with different pronunciations 什 甚 are used for the same meaning. That's a whole other story.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-12T14:13:51.223Z
2022-11-12T14:29:56.203Z
2022-11-12T14:29:56.203Z
user
<p>All dictionary entries put 什么 as shen2me0, but I am quite sure that in fluid speech I've only ever heard shen3me0. What's going on here? Is this a dialect/regional accent thing? For context, I grew up in Beijing.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-04T08:45:46.073Z
Well, I barely heard shen3me0. shen2me0 is what I suppose to hear.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-05T11:45:18.377Z
In southern parts of China shen2 is often heard in the locals' Putonghua. Personally I only picked up the shen3 sound during my college in Beijing.
lilysirius
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-16T11:26:18.767Z
As a standard chinese (putonghua) speaker, I, only say and hear shen2mo, and like many of my peers, would consider saying shen3mo as 嗲or做作。
ALife
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-17T14:35:05.067Z
@ALife, interesting! Where are you from?
Buddy L
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-17T15:12:58.697Z
I was  born northern china but I grew up with friends mostly from southern china, including sichuan, jiangxi, zhejiang, hunan, etc. so I am reasonably familiar with how (well-educated) southern Chinese speak putonghua as well.
ALife
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-17T16:16:49.700Z
From the other answers on the question, it would appear that shen3me0 is more of a northern phenomenon...Although r13 says that (s)he also has heard it in southern provinces. It is interesting that some people have heard it both ways and others have only heard it with second tone. I wonder what factors into this difference.
Buddy L
<pronunciation><tones>
What tone is 什 in 什么 in standard northern accent 普通话？
# What tone is 什 in 什么 in standard northern accent 普通话？

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-08-04)

All dictionary entries put 什么 as shen2me0, but I am quite sure that in fluid speech I've only ever heard shen3me0. What's going on here? Is this a dialect/regional accent thing? For context, I grew up in Beijing.

**Tags:** pronunciation, tones

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Well, I barely heard shen3me0. shen2me0 is what I suppose to hear.  
> **username_2**: In southern parts of China shen2 is often heard in the locals' Putonghua. Personally I only picked up the shen3 sound during my college in Beijing.  
> **username_3**: As a standard chinese (putonghua) speaker, I, only say and hear shen2mo, and like many of my peers, would consider saying shen3mo as 嗲or做作。  
> **username_0**: @username_3, interesting! Where are you from?  
> **username_3**: I was  born northern china but I grew up with friends mostly from southern china, including sichuan, jiangxi, zhejiang, hunan, etc. so I am reasonably familiar with how (well-educated) southern Chinese speak putonghua as well.  
> **username_0**: From the other answers on the question, it would appear that shen3me0 is more of a northern phenomenon...Although r13 says that (s)he also has heard it in southern provinces. It is interesting that some people have heard it both ways and others have only heard it with second tone. I wonder what factors into this difference.  

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## 6 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2022-08-04. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Yes, I can attest that the sound exists in the southern provinces, though I couldn't pinpoint those locations other than Taiwan. I personally pronounce it both ways.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for the confirmation, I thought I was going crazy! An interesting test: would you ever pronounce ”你什么时候去？“ as "ni2shen3me0...". Ie, does the third tone pronunciation of shen, when you do use it, apply a tone sandhi to a preceding 3rd tone?  
> **username_4**: Yes, that's the way I pronounce it - "ni2shen3me0..." with a lighter sound on 么.  
> **username_4**: You can play the recorded sound on the linked site below. But note that the tone indicated by the text wasn't correct. https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88  

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### Answer by username_5 on 2022-08-04. Score: 1

什么 shénme, this is the standard pinyin for 什么.
As to 什么 sounds like shen3me, it is used to get other people's attention, to emphasize being surprised, amazed. Since it is not a standard usage, you can not find this in dictionary.


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### Answer by username_6 on 2022-08-05. Score: 1

From Shenyang, Liaoning here: I'd say you'd have to go very very rural and fairly elderly people would say `shen3mo0`.

I think you'd struggle to find a northerner speaking with such a strong accent that they do `shen3` nowadays. However, you will find people from Taiwan mostly saying `shen3`.


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### Answer by username_7 on 2022-08-07. Score: 0

Many times, different intonations in spoken Chinese express different meanings. For example, to express one's surprise or doubts


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### Answer by username_8 on 2022-11-12. Score: 0

I was born n raised in Beijing. I would say shen3me is resoundingly non-standard in PTH. Whenever I hear it, I feel the speaker is either from Taiwan or some southern provinces speaking PTH with a local accent.


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### Answer by username_9 on 2022-11-12. Score: 0

The shen3 is in fact not a shen3, but an unstressed shen2. Its tone numeral is 35, but weakened to a 3.

The me0 is a weakened me1. Its tone numeral is 5 (the so-called neutral tone, essentially an unstressed 55).

So the "shen3me0" is in fact 3->5.

The unstressed 3 sounds close to the third tone with tone numeral 214. The overall contour of the third tone is a dipping one but 214 is sometimes weakened to a flat 3.

Meanwhile, shen2me0 is 35->31.

So why not just pronounce it as 35->31?

1. A possible reason: shenme is often used to raise a question.

When raising a question we unconsciously raise the tone of our voice. This in turn makes the pitch of syllables at the beginning of a sentence/phrase lower than the pitch of those at the end. When the first syllable is a 35 (the second tone) and second syllable a 5, the first syllable is lowered and weakened to a 3, making it sound like the unstressed third tone.

2. Another possible reason: shenme appears in weishenme.

The standard pronunciation for weishenme is wei4shen2me, but it is often pronounced as wei4shen0me0. The shen is weakened to shen0. Its tone numeral is 3 and again, close to the weakened version of the unstressed third tone. Some would consider the pronunciation of every shenme to be the same as the pronunciation of shenme in weishenme.

3. A third possible reason: the speaker's native tone.

In some languages/dialects such as Lower Yangtze Mandarin, Gan, Xiang, Southern Min, Cantonese, and a few Wu varieties, either 什 or 甚 has a relatively low and flat pitch and sounds similar to the unstressed third tone in Mandarin.

Note that these 2 different characters with different pronunciations 什 甚 are used for the same meaning. That's a whole other story.


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