Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "夏天" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 夏天 in Chinese?

夏天 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɕja˥˩.tʰjɛn˥/. It means “summer.” shyah-TYEN: a hard-falling first syllable with the thin x hiss, then a high level second with a strong puff of air.

shyah-TYEN: a hard-falling first syllable with the thin x hiss, then a high level second with a strong puff of air.

夏天 /ɕja˥˩.tʰjɛn˥/

xiàtiān

A plunge then a plateau, with no sandhi. The two syllables offer a clean vowel contrast: xià has the wide open "ah" of the -ia final while tiān has the tight "eh" of -ian, despite both being spelled with an a. Hearing that difference is the whole point of learning the -ian final properly.

Listen: 夏天

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Sound it out

xià The lips pull back for a thin palatal hiss with the tip pointing down, then a quick "ee" glide into a wide open "ah". The pitch plunges from high to low.

tiān A real gust of breath after the t, into the -ian final — quick "ee" glide, tight "eh", front n. Held level at the top, so the word leaps back up after its drop.

Hear it in a sentence

夏天很热。

Xiàtiān hěn rè.

Summer is hot.

Listen: 夏天很热。

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夏天很热。 keeps hěn at a full dip before the falling rè, so no conversion occurs. The sentence therefore runs fall, level, dip, fall — a drop, a plateau, a trough, and a final plunge. That leap from the floor of hěn back to the top of rè is the largest interval and the one most often flattened.

Where English speakers slip

The x becomes an English "sh", which pulls xià toward the retroflex shà. Spread the lips and keep the tip down. Under-aspirating the t gives diān. And the two a spellings get pronounced alike, so tiān comes out as "tyahn" — the first syllable's vowel is open, the second's is tight, and they should not match.