LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "裤子" in Chinese?
koo-dz: a hard-falling first syllable with a strong puff of air, then a weak toneless second with no vowel.
kùzi
The pitch falls, and what follows carries none. Note the tongue's journey across the word: it starts at the very back of the mouth for the k and finishes at the very front for the z, with a rounded vowel in between. That distance is what makes the word feel awkward before it becomes automatic.
Listen: 裤子
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
这条裤子很舒服。
Zhè tiáo kùzi hěn shūfu.
These pants are comfortable.
Listen: 这条裤子很舒服。
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这条裤子很舒服。 keeps hěn at a full dip before the level shū, so no conversion. Then fu fades toneless. The sentence therefore contains two neutral syllables — zi and fu — which land at opposite ends of the range, one after a fall and one after a level tone.
Where English speakers slip
A weak release on the k gives gù. Push the air out audibly. The vowel is often only half-rounded, drifting toward a schwa — the lips need to push forward. And the second syllable draws the usual "zee", importing a vowel that the spelling promises but the language does not deliver.