The Neutral tone at the end of words

[MengJiaSheng]

Well basically I quite often encounter the problem of not knowing whether the last character of a word is pronounced with the neutral tone or with the original tone the character has on its own(for example 后头 is 4th tone, neutral tone, although 头 is second normally). This is quite annoying as I still havent recognized a rule which tells me when the last character is pronounced in neutral tone and when it is not. If you check different dictionaries you often find different answers as well, with the last tone of a particular word being neutral in some words and like the original one in others.

Now when I am reviewing my vocab I often have to put a flashcard to the pile for another review just because I did not get the right tone for the last character although I knew the right tone that character normally has. This is really quite annoying. So my question is, whether there is any rule regarding the neutral tone and whether it is altogether that important if you know the original tone the character has.

[yonglin]

Yes, it is important. It will sound weird if you pronounce 头 in 木头 in the 2nd tone, for example. This is why you need to learn words rather than characters. For example, 地道 has quite different meaning depending on whether you pronounce the second character in tone 4 or neutral.

[MengJiaSheng]

Yes I see what you mean. Probably the 后头 example wasnt that great, as there indeed is a pattern here. It is the same with 边 which is neutral when it is a fillword.

What I am talking about rather are words like 事情. In some dictionaries the tones will be shi4qing2 in others it will be shi4qing5.

[roddy]

Your best bet is to choose the dictionary or textbook or teacher you use most often as your standard, and stick to it. There's also this list from the 普通话水平测试 you could use as a reference.

As far as rules go I believe Taiwan (and the South?) tend to keep the tones where the north and the 普通话 standards might drop them. But that's not much of a rule.

[HashiriKata]

I believe from the list Roddy mentioned, you can probably draw some personal, rough guide for own use regarding when the tone of a syllable can become neutral.

(People don't offer these rules because they're only rough guide for personal use, and can be controversial otherwise)

[shivasprogeny]

There are certain suffixes that are always neutral such as 子.

If two syllables are repeated, the second is usually neutral: 太太，妈妈.

As for the words that don't really have the rule, just like other words, you need to learn the pronunciation. The tone is just one aspect of pronunciation.

[renzhe]

There are certain suffixes that are always neutral such as 子.

Not really.

子 is unstressed if it is used as a noun suffix to complete the word, but without meaning, like 日子, 帖子, 孩子, 房子, 帽子, 样子, etc.

It is pronounced with a third tone if it carries the meaning derived from "child", like 电子, 王子, 分子, 弟子, 公子, 太子, etc.

But that's not a 100% rule either. For example, 男子 and 女子 do carry the third tone, but 儿子 and 孩子 don't (the 子 doesn't carry the meaning here, 儿 and 孩 do).

The best way to get a hang of this is to listen, listen and listen. You should certainly pay attention to them while studying and try to remember them and pronounce them correctly, but tones are something that comes from having developed an ear for the language, and you need lots of listening for that.

[muyongshi]

And of course when it is used in names it will always be third tone. 孔子，孙子 etc

[Sajimi]

For those looking up this subject now, link provided in 2009 no longer works, but most likely the same list can be found here

[roddy]

Thanks!