Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "累" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 累 in Chinese?

累 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /leɪ˥˩/. It means “tired.” lay, dropping hard from high to low. A bright forward l and a tight diphthong, with the fall doing all the work.

lay, dropping hard from high to low. A bright forward l and a tight diphthong, with the fall doing all the work.

累 /leɪ˥˩/

lèi

No rule touches this syllable, but its neighbours react: 不累 becomes bú lèi, since a falling tone triggers the negator's switch. And the extremely common hěn lèi keeps hěn at a full dip, because 累 falls rather than dips — a distinction learners routinely blur.

Listen: 累

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Sound it out

l- The tip rests on the ridge with the air escaping over the sides, kept light and forward. English's hollow word-final l would thicken the vowel here.

-ei Starts at a mid "eh" and closes toward "ee". Tighter and shorter than the vowel in English "lay", with less drawl on the way out.

lèi (falling) High, then away sharply. On a short diphthong there is not much room, so the descent needs to be committed rather than gradual.

Hear it in a sentence

我今晚很累。

Wǒ jīnwǎn hěn lèi.

I'm tired tonight.

Listen: 我今晚很累。

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我今晚很累。 has two third tones, wǒ and hěn, neither of which changes: wǒ is followed by the level jīn and hěn by the falling lèi. So both keep their full descent, and the sentence sinks twice with a high plateau between. Ending on a plunge after a dip gives the complaint its weary shape.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers say "lay" with a level, drawn-out delivery, which reads as a first tone and does not mean tired. The pitch must fall. The l is a secondary issue: a dark, velarised English l pulls the following vowel backward and makes the syllable sound closer to lòu. Keep the tongue forward and the sound bright.