LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "不同" in Chinese?
boo-TOONG: the negator keeps its falling tone here, and the second syllable rises with a strong puff of air.
bùtóng
A useful negative example of the 不 rule. The negator switches to a rising bú only before a fourth tone; tóng is a second tone, so nothing changes and bù keeps its full fall. Pair this word mentally with 不客气, where the same negator does convert, and the boundary of the rule becomes clear.
Listen: 不同
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
每个城市都不同。
Měi ge chéngshì dōu bùtóng.
Every city is different.
Listen: 每个城市都不同。
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
每个城市都不同。 stacks the sentence so that 不同 lands at the end with nothing after it, letting tóng's rise complete fully. Before it, měi dips, ge fades, chéng rises, shì falls, dōu holds high. Notice that měi is followed by the toneless ge rather than another third tone, so no sandhi fires at the start.
Where English speakers slip
Over-applying the 不 rule is the specific danger here: learners who have just mastered bú kèqi will say bú tóng, which is wrong. The test is only ever the tone of the very next syllable. Beyond that, under-aspirating the t gives dòng, and the -ong vowel opens out to an English "ong" unless you keep the lips pursed.