san1 ge di4 san1 sheng1...

[nipponman]

Hey, my teacher says that when you have three third tones together that it can be 2 3 3 instead of the expected 3 2 3 (thats what I expect anyway). e.g. she said, wo3 ye3 you3 should be wo2 ye3 you3. I know that this has already been talked about, but I am talking now about seperate instances where it can change. Also, I am more importantly talkin about feeling, which one sounds more natural and why?

wo2 ye3 you3 == wo3 ye2 you3

They have the same words but do they have the same meaning?

[HashiriKata]

wo2 ye3 you3 == wo3 ye2 you3

The tone pattern changes depending on where you have a pause (//):

wo2 ye3 // you3

wo3 // ye2 you3

However, the most usual pattern would be without a pause:

wo2 ye2 you3

You may sound a little strange to pause at a wrong place but there should be no change of meaning due simply to that.

[gbooky]

i think the two alternative modes are

2 2 3

and 3 2 3

because it's difficult to speak two 3rd-tones one by one

so the first one is change to 2

and the standard expression should be 3 2 3,like wo(3) hen(2) hao(3)

but if speaking very fast, the first "3" tends to get together with the latter "3"

so we can change the tone once more.

the two modes are both popular and understandable

:-)

[adrianlondon]

I'd also add a vote for 223 unless you're speaking slowly to emphasise something.

For eg "Hey, I also have one!" in which case, 323 works.

[nipponman]

Thanks everyone, I think I understand now.

[againstwind]

Perhaps you can consult http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/12-horse-horse-tiger-tiger-slang-and-idioms844

Hope it will be helpful.