<p>Yes, they do feel uncomfortable to pronounce, but they are indeed pronounced two 4th tones.</p>

<p>Except the 不 case, in which it changes to 2nd + 4th.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-23T15:46:04.767Z
2015-09-23T15:46:04.767Z
Enrico Brasil
<p>There is a general rule for tone 4, but it concerns sequences of length three rather than consecutive fourth tones. The rule is as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For conversational speech, tone 4 becomes lower and flatter, but still
slightly falling, akin to Cantonese tone 3, when put between tone 3 or
4 and tone 1 or 4.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Something similar occurs for tone 2: it becomes higher and changes its direction, approaching the tone 1 pitch contour, when put between tone 1 or 2 and any other full tone.</p>
<p>I give a bit more detail on this in a <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/54498/2508">different answer</a>.</p>
<p>This &quot;sandhi&quot; rule/phenomenon does not seem to be very well known among students and teachers of Chinese. I only learnt about it when looking at the Wikipedia reference.</p>
<p>Reference: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chinese_phonology#Second_and_fourth_tone_change" rel="nofollow noreferrer">wikipedia</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-20T08:43:27.800Z
2023-06-20T08:43:27.800Z
goPlayerJuggler
<p>So I know for certain words, such as <code>不对</code>, the fourth tone changes, but I believe 不 may be a special case. </p>

<p>Some words such as  部队 seem uncomfortable to pronounce if I strictly follow 4th and 4th tones, but saying words such as 汉字, don't feel as uncomfortable. </p>

<p>Is there a general rule (or at least a general rule with a few exceptions), for pronouncing double fourth tone words?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-25T18:14:15.363Z
Nothing wrong with double 4th tones; they're indeed pronounced that way. 不 is one of the few special cases where tone-sandhi is applied. In every language there might be pronunciations that feels strange or uncomfortable to language learners.
NS.X.
<pronunciation><tones>
How to pronounce words with double fourth tones?
# How to pronounce words with double fourth tones?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-09-21)

So I know for certain words, such as `不对`, the fourth tone changes, but I believe 不 may be a special case.

Some words such as 部队 seem uncomfortable to pronounce if I strictly follow 4th and 4th tones, but saying words such as 汉字, don't feel as uncomfortable.

Is there a general rule (or at least a general rule with a few exceptions), for pronouncing double fourth tone words?

**Tags:** pronunciation, tones

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Nothing wrong with double 4th tones; they're indeed pronounced that way. 不 is one of the few special cases where tone-sandhi is applied. In every language there might be pronunciations that feels strange or uncomfortable to language learners.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-09-23. Score: 1

Yes, they do feel uncomfortable to pronounce, but they are indeed pronounced two 4th tones.

Except the 不 case, in which it changes to 2nd + 4th.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2023-06-20. Score: 0

There is a general rule for tone 4, but it concerns sequences of length three rather than consecutive fourth tones. The rule is as follows:

> For conversational speech, tone 4 becomes lower and flatter, but still
> slightly falling, akin to Cantonese tone 3, when put between tone 3 or
> 4 and tone 1 or 4.

Something similar occurs for tone 2: it becomes higher and changes its direction, approaching the tone 1 pitch contour, when put between tone 1 or 2 and any other full tone.

I give a bit more detail on this in a [different answer](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/54498/2508).

This "sandhi" rule/phenomenon does not seem to be very well known among students and teachers of Chinese. I only learnt about it when looking at the Wikipedia reference.

Reference: [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chinese_phonology#Second_and_fourth_tone_change)


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