Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "确定" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 确定 in Chinese?

确定 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tɕʰɥɛ˥˩.tiŋ˥˩/. It means “sure / certain.” chweh-DING, both syllables dropping hard. The first contains the rounded front ü, written as u because it follows q.

chweh-DING, both syllables dropping hard. The first contains the rounded front ü, written as u because it follows q.

确定 /tɕʰɥɛ˥˩.tiŋ˥˩/

quèdìng

Two falling tones, unchanged by any rule, with the first compressed and the second fuller. The spelling point deserves as much attention as the tone: after j, q, x and y the letter u always represents ü, so què is not "chway" with a w-glide but a genuinely rounded front vowel.

Listen: 确定

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Sound it out

què Aspirated palatal q with a real gust of breath, then the -üe final: tongue high and front as for "ee" while the lips round, opening out to "eh". The pitch dives across it.

dìng Unaspirated d onto an "ee" closed at the back of the mouth by ng. Another full descent, so the word delivers two drops in a row.

Hear it in a sentence

我很确定。

Wǒ hěn quèdìng.

I'm quite sure.

Listen: 我很确定。

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我很确定。 puts wǒ and hěn together as adjacent third tones, so wǒ rises: wó hěn. Then què and dìng both plunge. The sentence therefore climbs, sinks to the floor, and drops twice from the top — a compact demonstration of how much pitch movement four Mandarin syllables can contain.

Where English speakers slip

The ü is the main failure, with learners producing "chway" using a plain w-glide. Set the tongue for "ee", round the lips without letting the tongue slide back, then open to "eh". Under-aspirating the q gives jué. And the wǒ hěn sandhi at the start is missed constantly, since both words are so routine that beginners stop analysing them.