Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "一起" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 一起 in Chinese?

一起 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /i˥˩.tɕʰi˨˩˦/. It means “together.” yee-CHEE: the 一 has become a falling tone here, and the second syllable dips with a strong puff of air.

yee-CHEE: the 一 has become a falling tone here, and the second syllable dips with a strong puff of air.

一起 /i˥˩.tɕʰi˨˩˦/

yìqǐ

This word shows the other half of the 一 rule. Before a fourth tone it rises to yí; before a first, second or third tone it falls to yì. Here qǐ dips, so 一 takes the falling form. Put this next to 一样 yíyàng, where the same character rises, and the two branches of the rule sit side by side.

Listen: 一起

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Sound it out

yì A bare tense "ee" with the pitch plunging from high to low. This is 一 in its converted fourth-tone form, not the high level tone you learned first.

qǐ That flat front portion of the tongue spreads against the hard palate and releases with a real gust of breath, onto a tense "ee". The voice sinks to the floor.

Hear it in a sentence

我们一起去吧。

Wǒmen yìqǐ qù ba.

Let's go together.

Listen: 我们一起去吧。

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我们一起去吧。 protects wǒ with the toneless men, so it keeps its dip. Then yì falls, qǐ dips, qù falls again, and ba fades toneless. The suggestion ends at the bottom of the range on a weightless particle, which is what makes it sound casual rather than insistent.

Where English speakers slip

Saying yī qǐ with a flat first syllable is the standard error, because that is the tone memorised for 一. Natives make the conversion automatically and its absence is immediately audible. The second issue is under-aspirating the q, which gives jǐ — and since 几 jǐ is an extremely common word, the error produces something real but wrong.