LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "天" in Chinese?
tyen with a strong puff of air, held high and flat. Aspirated t, an "ee" glide, a tight "eh", and a front n.
tiān
No rule reaches this syllable, and it makes a stable neighbour: any dipping tone before it keeps a full descent. That is why 一 in front of it becomes a falling yì rather than a rising yí — the conversion to yí happens only before a fourth tone, and 天 is level.
Listen: 天
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
我在北京住了三天。
Wǒ zài Běijīng zhùle sān tiān.
I stayed in Beijing for three days.
Listen: 我在北京住了三天。
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我在北京住了三天。 ends with sān and tiān, two level syllables in a row, forming a sustained plateau at the top. Before that, wǒ dips, zài falls, Běi dips, jīng holds high, zhù falls, and le fades. Notice Běi is followed by the level jīng, so no conversion occurs there.
Where English speakers slip
Under-aspirating gives diān. Push the air. The -ian final opens out to "tyahn" for most learners — keep the vowel tight. And since the word so often ends a phrase, the level tone tends to taper off; a first tone must be cut while still at height rather than allowed to decline like an English sentence-final syllable.