LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "点" in Chinese?
dyen, low and sagging. Unaspirated d, an "ee" glide, a tight "eh", and a front n — closer to "dyen" than "dee-an".
diǎn
As a dipping tone it converts before another dipping syllable, and telling the time creates that environment constantly: jǐ diǎn, wǔ diǎn and jiǔ diǎn all involve two third tones in contact. In every case the number rises and 点 keeps the dip, since it comes second.
Listen: 点
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
现在几点？
Xiànzài jǐ diǎn?
What time is it?
Listen: 现在几点？
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现在几点？ ends with jǐ and diǎn adjacent, both third tones, so jǐ rises and diǎn keeps its full contour: xiànzài jí diǎn. Before that, xiàn and zài both fall. The question therefore drops twice, climbs, and sinks — with no interrogative rise at the end, since the question word carries the force.
Where English speakers slip
"Dee-AHN" in two beats with an open vowel is the near-universal rendering, and it is wrong on length and on vowel quality alike. One beat, tight "eh". Aspirating the d gives tiǎn. And the jǐ diǎn sandhi is one of the very first a learner meets and one of the most often skipped, because both syllables look like plain third tones on the page.