Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "开门" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 开门 in Chinese?

开门 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /kʰaɪ˥.mən˧˥/. It means “to be open (for business).” kai-MUN: a high level first syllable with a strong puff of air, then a rising second. The word ends higher than it began.

kai-MUN: a high level first syllable with a strong puff of air, then a rising second. The word ends higher than it began.

开门 /kʰaɪ˥.mən˧˥/

kāimén

Level into rising, with no sandhi. The interesting technical point is that a second tone after a first tone has very little room: the pitch is already near the ceiling, so the climb has to happen in a narrow band. Native speakers manage it by starting mén slightly lower than kāi ended, which is worth imitating deliberately.

Listen: 开门

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Sound it out

kāi Aspirated k with real breath behind it, onto the wide diphthong of "eye", held at the top of the range without wavering.

mén Lips closed for m, then a short central vowel closed with the tongue tip at the ridge. The pitch ramps upward — but since kāi already sits high, the climb is compressed into the upper part of your range.

Hear it in a sentence

商店开门了。

Shāngdiàn kāimén le.

The store is open.

Listen: 商店开门了。

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商店开门了。 stacks a level shāng, a falling diàn, then kāi level again and mén rising, before le fades toneless at that high pitch. So the sentence ends up rather than down, which is what makes it sound like a piece of news rather than a flat statement. The le carries no pitch of its own and simply extends mén's height.

Where English speakers slip

The compressed rise on mén is where this fails: learners keep it level because there is no obvious room to climb, which turns the second syllable into another first tone. Drop slightly before rising. Under-aspirating the k gives gāi, and the front n at the end of mén drifts to méng, which is a different syllable entirely.