Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "岩石" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 岩石 in Chinese?

岩石 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /jɛn˧˥.ʂʐ̩˧˥/. It means “rock.” yen-SHRR, both syllables rising. A tight "eh" in the first, no vowel at all in the second.

yen-SHRR, both syllables rising. A tight "eh" in the first, no vowel at all in the second.

岩石 /jɛn˧˥.ʂʐ̩˧˥/

yánshí

Climb, then climb again in succession, needing a downward reset between them. Native speakers execute that reset so fast it sounds continuous, but skipping it entirely leaves the second syllable level, and the word then sounds like one long high syllable rather than two ascents.

Listen: 岩石

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

Sound it out

yán A y-glide into a tight "eh" as in "yen", closed with the tongue tip at the ridge. Despite the a in the spelling there is no open vowel. The voice climbs from mid to high.

shí Retroflex hiss with the tongue curled back, then voicing in place — no separate vowel. Another climb, and it must start below where yán finished.

Hear it in a sentence

山上有一块大岩石。

Shān shàng yǒu yí kuài dà yánshí.

There's a big rock on the mountain.

Listen: 山上有一块大岩石。

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

山上有一块大岩石。 has yǒu keeping its dip because 一 has converted to a rising yí before the falling kuài. Then dà plunges and the two rises of yánshí close the sentence. So the utterance ends by climbing twice in a row after a hard drop — a demanding transition.

Where English speakers slip

The -ian spelling in yán opens out to "yahn" when it should be a tight "eh". The second syllable draws the usual "shee", with a vowel that does not exist and a flattened retroflex. And the double rise collapses into one plateau unless you drop the pitch audibly between the two syllables.