How to Pronounce '想': Chinese Pronunciation Guide

Q: How do you pronounce 想 in Chinese?

想 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɕjɑŋ˨˩˦/. It means “to want / would like.” syahng, low and sagging. The initial is the thin, smiling hiss of x — not English "sh" — and the ending is a back nasal.

How do you pronounce "想" in Chinese?

syahng, low and sagging. The initial is the thin, smiling hiss of x — not English "sh" — and the ending is a back nasal.

想 /ɕjɑŋ˨˩˦/

xiǎng

This verb lives in high-sandhi territory: wǒ xiǎng is one of the most common word pairs in the language, and it always forces wǒ to rise. When 想 is followed by another third tone it rises itself and passes the dip down the line. Followed by anything else, it keeps its low sag.

Listen: 想

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

x- Lips spread into a smile, tongue blade raised toward the hard palate just behind the ridge, and a thin high hiss. Brighter and sharper than English "sh", and the tongue tip stays down rather than curling.

-iang A glide from "ee" through a wide open "ah" into the back nasal ng. All in one beat, with the "ah" as the longest component.

xiǎng (dip) The pitch drops to the bottom of your range. The syllable is long enough that the low stretch is clearly audible, and in isolation there is room for the final upturn as well.

Hear it in a sentence

我想吃冰淇淋。

Wǒ xiǎng chī bīngqílín.

I want an ice cream.

Listen: 我想吃冰淇淋。

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

我想吃冰淇淋。 shows the rule in action — wǒ rises to a second tone before the third-tone xiǎng, so the sentence opens with a climb rather than two dips. Then chī jumps to a high level tone, which is a big pitch leap out of the low xiǎng, and bīngqílín gives high, rising, rising to finish. The sentence climbs steadily after its low point.

Where English speakers slip

The x is the main casualty: pronounced as English "sh" it collides with Mandarin's retroflex sh, which is a genuinely different consonant. Spread the lips wide and aim the hiss high and forward. The nasal ending is the second issue, with learners producing xiǎn — a front n — which is a different syllable. And in the very common wǒ xiǎng, three out of four beginners produce two full dips instead of applying the sandhi.