Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "男人" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 男人 in Chinese?

男人 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /nan˧˥.ɻən˧˥/. It means “man.” nahn-RUN, both syllables rising. Two climbs in a row, with the second needing a downward reset before it can ascend.

nahn-RUN, both syllables rising. Two climbs in a row, with the second needing a downward reset before it can ascend.

男人 /nan˧˥.ɻən˧˥/

nánrén

Two rising tones in succession, unchanged by any rule but physically demanding. The voice has to drop back down between them, which native speakers do so quickly it is inaudible as a fall. Skipping that reset leaves the second syllable level, and a level rén is not a word.

Listen: 男人

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Sound it out

nán Alveolar n onto a broad open "ah", closed with the tongue tip back at the ridge. The voice climbs from mid to high.

rén Now the tongue curls back for a retroflex buzz with the lips flat, onto a short central vowel closed at the ridge. Another climb — and it must begin lower than nán finished.

Hear it in a sentence

那个男人是我叔叔。

Nàge nánrén shì wǒ shūshu.

That man is my uncle.

Listen: 那个男人是我叔叔。

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那个男人是我叔叔。 gives nà falling, ge toneless, nán rising, rén rising, shì falling, wǒ dipping, then shūshu with a level syllable and a toneless echo. Wǒ keeps its dip because shū is level. The double rise in the middle is the sentence's technical centre and the place it most often flattens.

Where English speakers slip

The r drifts toward English, with rounded lips and no retroflexion. The vowel in nán is also routinely too tight, coming out as the a of "nan" rather than the open "ah" of "father". And the double rise collapses into one plateau, which makes the word sound like a single long syllable rather than two distinct climbs.