LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "身体" in Chinese?
shun-TEE: a high level first syllable with the tongue curled back, then a low sagging second with a strong puff of air.
shēntǐ
Plateau into dip, with no conversion inside — the rule needs two dipping tones and shēn is level. On the right edge, though, tǐ is a dipping tone and converts whenever another one follows, which is common since health is usually described with 很 plus an adjective.
Listen: 身体
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
他身体很好。
Tā shēntǐ hěn hǎo.
He's in good health.
Listen: 他身体很好。
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他身体很好。 has hěn and hǎo adjacent, both dipping, so hěn rises. But note that tǐ, immediately before hěn, is also a dipping tone — so strictly there is a run of three: tǐ, hěn, hǎo. Mandarin raises all but the last, giving tí hén hǎo. Three written dips and one spoken one.
Where English speakers slip
A weak release on the t gives dǐ. Push the air. The retroflex in shēn flattens into an English "sh", and the front nasal drifts back to shēng, which is a different and very common syllable. And the three-in-a-row conversion in the example sentence is easy to miss because it starts inside the word and continues outside it.