How to Pronounce '什么时候': Chinese Pronunciation Guide

Q: How do you pronounce 什么时候 in Chinese?

什么时候 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ʂən˧˥.mɤ.ʂʐ̩˧˥.xoʊ/. It means “when.” shun-muh-SHRR-hoh: two rising syllables each followed by a toneless one. A four-syllable phrase with only two real tones in it.

How do you pronounce "什么时候" in Chinese?

shun-muh-SHRR-hoh: two rising syllables each followed by a toneless one. A four-syllable phrase with only two real tones in it.

什么时候 /ʂən˧˥.mɤ.ʂʐ̩˧˥.xoʊ/

shénme shíhou

The phrase alternates strong-weak-strong-weak, and half of it carries no tone at all. That rhythm is the whole character of the expression: giving four equal beats makes it sound like a recitation. No sandhi applies anywhere, since the only tones present are rising ones and rising tones never change.

Listen: 什么时候

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Sound it out

shén Retroflex sh with the tip curled back, then a short central vowel closed with the tongue tip at the ridge. The voice climbs from mid to high.

me Toneless: a quick m onto a schwa, sitting at the high pitch shén reached and then stopping. About half the length of the syllable before it.

shí Retroflex again, but this time the letter i is a decoy — the tongue holds its curled position and simply buzzes. Another climb from mid to high.

hou Toneless: friction at the soft palate onto a vowel closing toward "oo", light and short, riding the pitch shí finished on.

Hear it in a sentence

你什么时候回来？

Nǐ shénme shíhou huílái?

When are you coming back?

Listen: 你什么时候回来？

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你什么时候回来？ keeps nǐ at a full dip because shén rises. Then the four-syllable phrase does its strong-weak alternation, and huílái adds two more rising tones at the end. That gives four second tones in one question, each needing its own downward reset — the single most demanding tonal sequence in the beginner course.

Where English speakers slip

The two retroflex initials both get flattened into English "sh", and the second one additionally acquires an "ee" vowel that does not exist. Curl the tongue for both and let the second one buzz rather than vowel. On rhythm, learners give all four syllables equal weight, which is the single loudest signal of a non-native speaker in a question this common.