LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "鸡蛋" in Chinese?
jee-DAHN: a high level first syllable with an unaspirated j, then a hard-falling second with an unaspirated d.
jīdàn
A plateau followed by a plunge, with no sandhi. Both initials are unaspirated, so the word requires suppressing breath twice in a row — an unusual demand, since English speakers add a puff to almost every initial stop without noticing they are doing it.
Listen: 鸡蛋
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
我买了十个鸡蛋。
Wǒ mǎile shí ge jīdàn.
I bought ten eggs.
Listen: 我买了十个鸡蛋。
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我买了十个鸡蛋。 opens with wǒ and mǎi adjacent, both dipping, so wǒ rises. Then le fades, shí climbs, ge fades, jī holds level, dàn plunges. Two toneless syllables and one conversion in a seven-syllable sentence, with the pitch alternating throughout rather than settling.
Where English speakers slip
Aspirating either initial changes the syllable — qī and tàn respectively. Keep both releases silent. The nasal on dàn drifts back to dàng, and the vowel tightens toward English "dan" when the jaw should drop. And the wǒ mǎi conversion at the start is the usual casualty.