LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "飞机" in Chinese?
fay-JEE, both syllables high and flat. An ordinary f, then an unaspirated palatal j with no puff of air.
fēijī
Both syllables sit high and flat with no pitch movement whatsoever. That stability makes it a useful reference word, and it also means the compound leaves everything around it alone: a dipping tone before it keeps its full descent, and the negator stays as bù.
Listen: 飞机
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
飞机一个小时后起飞。
Fēijī yí ge xiǎoshí hòu qǐfēi.
The plane leaves in an hour.
Listen: 飞机一个小时后起飞。
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飞机一个小时后起飞。 contains a 一 conversion — yí before the underlyingly-falling ge — and then xiǎoshí with a dip and a rise, hòu falling, and qǐfēi with a dip and a level. Note xiǎo keeps its dip because shí rises, and qǐ keeps its dip because fēi is level. Two unchanged dipping tones and one converted 一.
Where English speakers slip
Aspirating the j gives qī, a different word. Keep the breath in. On the tone side, English speakers stress the first syllable of a compound noun and let the second fall away, which turns jī into a fourth tone — both need the same height. And the diphthong in fēi tends to get drawled out like English "fay".