LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "城市" in Chinese?
chung-SHRR: a rising first syllable with a strong puff of air, then a hard-falling second with no real vowel.
chéngshì
Climb then plunge, with no rule involved. The word contains a clean aspiration contrast between two retroflex consonants: ch has a strong puff, sh has none at all. Since both are made in the same place, the breath is the only thing distinguishing them, which makes this a useful two-syllable drill.
Listen: 城市
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
北京是个大城市。
Běijīng shì ge dà chéngshì.
Beijing is a big city.
Listen: 北京是个大城市。
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北京是个大城市。 keeps Běi at a full dip because jīng is level. Then shì falls, ge fades, dà falls, chéng climbs, shì falls again. Two instances of shì with the same tone bracket the sentence's second half, and the rise on chéng between the falls is what stops it collapsing into a monotone descent.
Where English speakers slip
Both retroflexes get flattened into English "ch" and "sh" with the tongue lying flat. Curl the tip back for each. The second syllable additionally acquires an "ee" vowel that does not exist — let it buzz instead. And the -eng in chéng is often fronted to an English "eng", when the tongue should be pulled back.