<p>There's an article on Wikipedia which discuses this in quite some length:</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chinese_phonology#Neutral_tone" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Standard Chinese phonology - Neutral tone</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/4hcZTXLj.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/4hcZTXLj.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>There's also a table that can be simplified to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Following a:<br />
1st tone = ˦˩ 41<br />
2nd tone = ˥˨ 52<br />
3rd tone = ˧ 33 ~ ˨˧ 23<br />
4th tone = ˨˩ 21</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-29T19:56:57.287Z
2024-09-29T19:56:57.287Z
Mou某
<p>You may want to refer to some 轻声词表.</p>
<p>Although I think its okay if you choose to speak the tone clearly by each character. Neutral tone in two-character-word is not specifically taught in school as per my recon, so maybe its not a big deal.</p>
<p>The only problem if it bothers you, is it sounds like Ross Geller in FRIENDS, or sales teller in ADs.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-04T03:45:40.537Z
As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer).
Community
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-30T02:35:40.397Z
2024-09-30T02:35:40.397Z
zrsammy
<p>How is the neutral tone pronounced, or is it not a fixed tone. If so, how should I be pronouncing it after different tones?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-30T00:09:17.930Z
Take a class, The only way to learn pronunciation is through practice with real people.
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-30T02:14:43.663Z
Yes, at least in the early stages. Even foreigners who spend some time in a Mandarin speaking environment needs fine tuning because, like all languages, vocal nuances, especially spoken at some speed, is quite different as it appear on paper. Here's a funny example, https://youtu.be/XRsGNjMkfFE?si=-r4bAXuQPEGdMSZv. A famous oldie song sung by 潘秀琼, born in Macau, China, grew up in Malaysia and Singapore, is a Singaporean singer. Please tell me where she went wrong?
Wayne Cheah
<tones>
Neutral Tone Pronunciation and Dependency on Preceding Tones
# Neutral Tone Pronunciation and Dependency on Preceding Tones

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-09-29)

How is the neutral tone pronounced, or is it not a fixed tone. If so, how should I be pronouncing it after different tones?

**Tags:** tones

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Take a class, The only way to learn pronunciation is through practice with real people.  
> **username_2**: Yes, at least in the early stages. Even foreigners who spend some time in a Mandarin speaking environment needs fine tuning because, like all languages, vocal nuances, especially spoken at some speed, is quite different as it appear on paper. Here's a funny example, https://youtu.be/XRsGNjMkfFE?si=-r4bAXuQPEGdMSZv. A famous oldie song sung by 潘秀琼, born in Macau, China, grew up in Malaysia and Singapore, is a Singaporean singer. Please tell me where she went wrong?  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2024-09-29. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

There's an article on Wikipedia which discuses this in quite some length:

[Standard Chinese phonology - Neutral tone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chinese_phonology#Neutral_tone)

> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/4hcZTXLj.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/4hcZTXLj.png)

There's also a table that can be simplified to:

> Following a:  
> 1st tone = ˦˩ 41  
> 2nd tone = ˥˨ 52  
> 3rd tone = ˧ 33 ~ ˨˧ 23  
> 4th tone = ˨˩ 21


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### Answer by username_4 on 2024-09-30. Score: 0

You may want to refer to some 轻声词表.

Although I think its okay if you choose to speak the tone clearly by each character. Neutral tone in two-character-word is not specifically taught in school as per my recon, so maybe its not a big deal.

The only problem if it bothers you, is it sounds like Ross Geller in FRIENDS, or sales teller in ADs.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer).  

---

