Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "杯" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 杯 in Chinese?

杯 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /peɪ˥/. It means “(measure word for cups / glasses).” bay, with no breath after the b and the pitch held high and dead level throughout.

bay, with no breath after the b and the pitch held high and dead level throughout.

杯 /peɪ˥/

bēi

Nothing in the tone system disturbs this syllable. As a measure word it does affect what comes before: 一 in front of bēi becomes a falling yì, and any third-tone number such as liǎng or jiǔ keeps its full dip since bēi is not a third tone.

Listen: 杯

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

b- Lips close and part with the breath held back. The absence of aspiration is the whole distinction from p, since neither sound is truly voiced in Mandarin.

-ei The diphthong of "bay": starts at a mid "eh" and closes toward "ee". Shorter and tighter than the equivalent English vowel, with less drawl at the end.

bēi (level) Pinned at the top of the range and held without wavering. English speakers naturally let a word-final vowel taper off; here you must cut it while still at full pitch.

Hear it in a sentence

我想要一杯咖啡。

Wǒ xiǎng yào yì bēi kāfēi.

I would like a cup of coffee.

Listen: 我想要一杯咖啡。

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

我想要一杯咖啡。 gives you wǒ xiǎng, a third-third pair that forces wǒ to rise, then the falling yào, then yì bēi with 一 already converted. Kāfēi finishes on two high level syllables, so the sentence ends on a sustained plateau that includes bēi as its first step — three high level syllables in a row if you count it, which is a real test of pitch stability.

Where English speakers slip

Let breath escape on the b and bēi becomes pēi, and English aspirates initial voiceless stops as a matter of course. Practise by holding a strip of paper in front of your lips and keeping it still. The tone error is the familiar one: letting a level tone sag, especially at the end of a phrase, which turns it into a fourth. Sustain and then stop.