After learning how to say hello or thank you in Chinese, the next phrase on your list is probably please. Thankfully, saying please in Chinese consists of only one character, meaning that it is only one sound. That is the good news, but the bad news is to come. The challenge with saying please is not only speaking the right sound, but also saying it with the correct tone.
What are Tones?
Tones, put simply, are the song of the voice as you speak a character in Chinese. If you think of those brief songs as a required element to speaking Mandarin, then you have the concept of this language set correctly in your mind. While there are four tones in Mandarin Chinese, we'll examine what it's like to say the third tone because it is the one used to say please.
Another name for the third tone is the falling and rising tone, and there's a reason for that! To properly sing this tone, your voice must drop to a low tone and then rise to a higher pitch than when you first began. While the sound of this is very unique, you could think of it a little like the sound that comes out of someone's mouth who is frustrated, standing with their hands on their hips, and emphatically telling someone, "No, that's not how things are." Truly, this tone sounds like a grunt of frustration, but that's what it is.
How Do I Pronounce Please?
Using PinYin, you would say "qing." For all those who aren't acquainted with this Romanization of Chinese, though, you can combine the "ch" and "ing" sound. Then, the only thing left to do is add the tone to this in order to complete how to say please in Chinese.
How to Put It Together
Since your voice needs to lower and then rise, figuring out which sound to use for the turnaround at the bottom can be a challenge. For native speakers, this thought never enters their mind because saying characters with tones comes pretty naturally to them. For those of us learning it as a foreign language, it seems a little tricky.
From my experience, changing direction when you say the "i" in "ing" is the easiest point for the transition. Thus, "q" or "ch" is said as you are dropping your pitch, and then at "i" you reach your lowest point and begin the ascent. As you are coming up, you can then add the "ng" to the "ing" to finish the tone.
How Does It Fit Grammatically?
In English, we often end our sentences with please. Although sometimes the please comes at the beginning, it is just as likely to be found at the end. But in Chinese, please comes at the beginning of the sentence. Even if it is not the very first character, you're still apt to find it very close to the start of a phrase in Mandarin.
What are Tones?
Tones, put simply, are the song of the voice as you speak a character in Chinese. If you think of those brief songs as a required element to speaking Mandarin, then you have the concept of this language set correctly in your mind. While there are four tones in Mandarin Chinese, we'll examine what it's like to say the third tone because it is the one used to say please.
Another name for the third tone is the falling and rising tone, and there's a reason for that! To properly sing this tone, your voice must drop to a low tone and then rise to a higher pitch than when you first began. While the sound of this is very unique, you could think of it a little like the sound that comes out of someone's mouth who is frustrated, standing with their hands on their hips, and emphatically telling someone, "No, that's not how things are." Truly, this tone sounds like a grunt of frustration, but that's what it is.
How Do I Pronounce Please?
Using PinYin, you would say "qing." For all those who aren't acquainted with this Romanization of Chinese, though, you can combine the "ch" and "ing" sound. Then, the only thing left to do is add the tone to this in order to complete how to say please in Chinese.
How to Put It Together
Since your voice needs to lower and then rise, figuring out which sound to use for the turnaround at the bottom can be a challenge. For native speakers, this thought never enters their mind because saying characters with tones comes pretty naturally to them. For those of us learning it as a foreign language, it seems a little tricky.
From my experience, changing direction when you say the "i" in "ing" is the easiest point for the transition. Thus, "q" or "ch" is said as you are dropping your pitch, and then at "i" you reach your lowest point and begin the ascent. As you are coming up, you can then add the "ng" to the "ing" to finish the tone.
How Does It Fit Grammatically?
In English, we often end our sentences with please. Although sometimes the please comes at the beginning, it is just as likely to be found at the end. But in Chinese, please comes at the beginning of the sentence. Even if it is not the very first character, you're still apt to find it very close to the start of a phrase in Mandarin.
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