不 Tone Change?

[Guangxi Shane]

In the following sentence should 不 be pronounced with 2nd tone? I've been saying it with 4th tone, but I just heard someone say it and it sounded like 2nd tone. If so, is 不 always pronounced with 2nd tone when it is followed by a 4th tone? Does this only happen with 不? 

 

我不会说英文.

 

How about:

 

我不是美国人。

 

Should the 不 in the above sentence also be pronounced with 2nd tone?

 

 

Thanks

[AdamD]

is 不 always pronounced with 2nd tone when it is followed by a 4th tone?

 

Yes.

 

Does this only happen with 不?

 

It happens with 一 as well.

 

Should the 不 in the above sentence also be pronounced with 2nd tone?

 

Yes, in both cases.

 

It's called tone sandhi, and it takes a bit of getting used to.

[roddy]

1) What resources are you using that you didn't know this? Any basic textbook should cover it

2) Well done on spotting it by yourself. I think most people would just have assumed they're hearing wrong or just not noticed at all. 

[Guangxi Shane]

@AdamD, thanks for the explanation.

 

 

 

1) What resources are you using that you didn't know this? Any basic textbook should cover it

2) Well done on spotting it by yourself. I think most people would just have assumed they're hearing wrong or just not noticed at all. 

 

So far, I've only completed Pimsleur's Beginner's Mandarin Course. I've also been sporadically using Chinesepod and YoYoChinese.

 

Yesterday I was relistening to the first lesson in the Pimsleur course and it said, 不会 is pronounced with, "a rising and then falling tone." Apparently I didn't catch that statement the first time, because I've been saying it with 2 fourth tones. Pimsleur doesn't actually tell you what tone it is. They say things like, "falling rising and then falling tone," and it's not always clear to me which sounds are which tones. Probably the fact that I'm driving on a steep mountain road at high elevation while I'm listening to the recordings has something to do with my lack of comprehension sometimes...

 

I tried asking a couple of Chinese native speakers, and they both agreed that 不 should be pronounced with a 2nd tone in that sentence, but neither of them could explain to me why. 

[laser2302]

 

I tried asking a couple of Chinese native speakers, and they both agreed that 不 should be pronounced with a 2nd tone in that sentence, but neither of them could explain to me why.

 

I think the reason why it is pronounced with a 2nd tone is to make it sound smooth. Just like in English you can't use "a" in front of words with an initial vowel sound. Why? Because it sounds strange, just like you're saying "a elephant" instead of "an elephant". Similarly it will sound strange to have two fourth tones used side by side.

[Guangxi Shane]

 

I think the reason why it is pronounced with a 2nd tone is to make it sound smooth. Just like in English you can't use "a" in front of words with an initial vowel sound. Why? Because it sounds strange, just like you're saying "a elephant" instead of "an elephant". Similarly it will sound strange to have two fourth tones used side by side.

 

A Chinese woman I met told me the same thing. She also said she thought the reason 2 third tones, e.g., 你好, changed to 2+3, was that it was easier to pronounce. The woman (from Shanghai) told me she thought the reason Chinese speakers pronounced 你好, ni2 hao3, was that they were too "lazy" to say two 3rd tones in a row. I thought she told me she pronounced two 3rd tones as two 3rd tones and didn't change the first one to 2nd tone. I may have misunderstood her though. For awhile I tried pronouncing 你好 with two full 3rd tones, but then I listened carefully to Chinese people, and it didn't sound like they were doing that, so I quit.