Qing Sheng (»´Án) -- The  Light Tone
Not to be taken lightly
 
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Chinese Character Pronunciations
º~ »y «÷ ­µ »P ª` ­µ ²Å ¸¹ ¹ï ·Ó ªí
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Though used in Mandarin extremely often, this tone is assigned no special diacritic mark in pinyin («÷­µ). Its "subsidiary" status can be explained by the fact that, actually, it is a "reduced" tone used only in certain combinations of words.

It can be quite difficult to know when the character is pronounced with its "original" tone and when with qing sheng (»´Án). Since it can change the meaning of a word, it is important to remember some simple rules.
 

1. When ¤l (zi3), ¨à (er2), ­Ì (men2) and ÀY (tou2) are used as suffixes in nouns and pronouns, they are pronounced with qing sheng, e.g,

©Ð¤l (fang2 zi)      ¤k ¨à (nv3 er)       ¦ÞÀY  (she2 tou)      §Ú­Ì  (wo3 men)

However, in the words where ¤l (zi3), ¨à (er2) and ÀY (tou2) bear a meaning in its own right, they are pronounced with their original pitch:

¤Õ¤l (kong3 zi3)     §g¤l (jun1 zi3)      ¤Ñ¤l (tian1 zi3)      ¤k¤l (nv3 zi3)      ¨k¤l (nan2 zi3)
½¬¤l (ian2 zi3)     ½¼¤l (xia1 zi3)       ¿W¥Í¤l (du2 sheng1 zi3)

À¦¨à (ying1 er2)    ¨k¨à (nan2 er2)      °·¨à (jian4 er2)

¤ÀÀY (fen1 tou3)   ¤sÀY (shan1 tou3)   ¨®ÀY (che1 tou3)   ³½ÀY (yu tou3)   «|ÀY(¨à) (yin4 tou3 (er2))
 

2. The original tone may be coloquially omitted in the second element of some frequently used character compounds:

¸²²^ (bu2 tao)        ÅÚ½³ (luo2 bo)      µ\µ] (pi2 pa)

However, in written style words this does not occur:

±r«Þ (pai2 huai2)      »þ¨æ (lin3 lie4)      »dãé (wan3 yan2)
 

3. In compounds consisting of 2 same characters, the latter one is pronounced with qingsheng:

¶ý¶ý (ma1 ma)      ¬P¬P (xing1 xing)       «½«½ (wa2 wa)      »¡»¡ (shuo1 shuo)     ¬Ý¬Ý (kan4 kan)      ¸Õ¸Õ (shi4 shi)

However, in some words it is not the case, viz.:

  • in adjectives: ºCºC (man4 man4)   °ª°ª (gao1 gao1)   ®¨®¨ (qiao3 qiao3)
  • in nouns expressing time, volume, or space: ¦~¦~ (nian2 nian2)   ®a®a (jia1 jia1
  • in adverbs: ­è­è (gang1 gang1)    ¨C¨C (mei3 mei3)    «ê«ê (qia4 qia4)
  • 4. Auxiliary verbs are pronounced with qingsheng:

    §Úªº  (wo3 de)      À´¤F  (dong3 le)      ¦n¶Ü   (hao3 ma)

    However,  ¤F (liao3),  µÛ zhao2,  and when in combinations with ±o (de2) and ¤£ (bu4) are pronounced with their orignial tones:

    ©À¤£¤F    (nian2 bu4 liao3)    ³Ü±o¤F (he1 de liao3)

    ¨£¤£µÛ(jian4 bu4 zhao2        À´±oµÛ   (dong3 de zhao2
     
     

    5. Auxiliary words of direction (¤è¦ìµü  fang1 wei4 ci2) ¤W (shang4)¡M ¤U (xia4) and  ùØ (li3) are pronounced with the light tone

    ¤Ñ¤W   (tian1 shang)   ©³¤U  (di3 xia)      ¤ßùØ  (xin1 li)
    while auxiliary words of direction qian2, hou4, nei1 and wai4 are pronounced with their original tone:

    ªù«e (men2 qian2)    ©Ð«á (fang2 hou4)    «Ç¤º (shi4 nei4)    ®Õ¥~ (xiao4 wai4)
     

    6. Numerals ¤@ (yi1), ¤Q (shi2) and ¨â (liang2)

    When yi1 comes between two other words it is pronounced with qing sheng:

    When ¤Q shi2 is between two other numerals, or between a numeral and a classifier (¶qµü)  it is pronounced with qing sheng:

    ¤T¤Q¤T (san1 shi san1)  ¥|¤Q¥»  (si4 shi ben3)

    When liang2 is used in the meaning "a couple" (indefinite as opposed to the definite "two") it is pronounced with qing sheng.

    ¹L¨â¤Ñ¦A»¡  (guo4 liang tian1 zai4 shuo1)
     

    7. The classifier ­Ó ge4 is always pronounced with qing sheng:
     

    ¤­­Ó (wu3 ge)    ¥b­Ó (ban4 ge)   ´X­Ó (ji3 ge)     ­þ­Ó (na3 ge)     ³o­Ó (zhe4 ge)     ¦h¤Ö­Ó (duo1 shao3 ge)

    However, when the character ­Ó  is used in its independent meaning it is pronounced as ge4.

    ­Ó§O (ge4 bie2)     ¾ã­Ó (zheng3 ge4)    ­Ó©Ê (ge4 xing4)
     

       
    1.  ¹B°Ê°·¨à¦í¦b³o©Ð¤l
    Yun4 dong4 jiar4 zhu4 zai 4 zhe 4 fang2 zi.

    2. ¥L¦³­Ó¿W¥Í¤l·R¦Y³½©M½¬¤l
    Ta1 you3 ge4 du sheng1 zi ai4 chi1 yu2 he2 lian2 zi.

    3. §Ú¤k¨à¤ñ¥L¨à¤l¤j¨â·³
    Wo3 nur3 bi3 ta1 er2 zi da1 liang3 sui4.

    4. µ\µ] ¡§¤Q­±®I¥ñ¡¨ ®ð¶Õ½Sò¡¡M§Aťť¦h¦nÅ¥¡C
    Pi2 pa ju "Shi2 mian4 mai2 fu2" qi4 shi4 pang4 bo2, ni3 ting ting duo1 hao3 ting1.

    5.  ¥j§AÅ¥±oÁÙ¤£¦h¡MºCºC¦a§A´N·|³ßÅw¤¤°ê¥j

    6 §A¬Ý¬Ý¡M ³oùعL¦~®a®a³£

    7¡C§Ú­Ì¤]­è­è¦Y¹L¦~©]¶º¡M«¥­Ì¤@°_¤Wªá¥«¥h¡C

    8 ¸Ó¨Óªº³£¨Ó¤F¡C

    9 ¥L¦³¨Æ¨Ó¤£¤F¡M¦n¦b¥sªºµæ¤£¦h¡MÁÙ¯à¦Y±o¤F¡C

    10 µÛÂAªá¡S §Ú¨£¤£µÛ«z¡T

    11 §A¾ã¤Ñ¨S¦³¨Æ·F¡M¦Y±oºÎ±oµÛ¡M®a¸Ìªº¨Æ¤@ÂI¨à³£¤£

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