Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "游戏" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 游戏 in Chinese?

游戏 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /joʊ˧˥.ɕi˥˩/. It means “game.” yo-SHEE: a rising first syllable, then a hard-falling second with the thin x hiss.

yo-SHEE: a rising first syllable, then a hard-falling second with the thin x hiss.

游戏 /joʊ˧˥.ɕi˥˩/

yóuxì

A climb then a plunge, with no sandhi. The lip choreography is the interesting part: yóu finishes with the lips rounded and xì requires them spread, so they have to travel a long way between two adjacent syllables. Leftover rounding on the x pulls it toward the retroflex series.

Listen: 游戏

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Sound it out

yóu A brief y-glide leads into a vowel that begins fairly unrounded and closes toward "oo". The voice climbs from mid to high.

xì Lips spread wide for the thin palatal hiss with the tongue tip pointing down, onto a tense "ee". The pitch plunges from the height yóu reached down to the floor.

Hear it in a sentence

孩子们喜欢这个游戏。

Háizimen xǐhuan zhège yóuxì.

The children love this game.

Listen: 孩子们喜欢这个游戏。

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

孩子们喜欢这个游戏。 gives hái rising, zi fading, men fading, xǐ dipping, huan fading, zhè falling, ge fading, yóu rising, xì falling. Five of the nine syllables carry no tone at all — an unusually high proportion, and what makes the sentence sound conversational rather than recited.

Where English speakers slip

The x becomes an English "sh" for most learners, especially here where the preceding syllable leaves the lips rounded. Spread them deliberately. The vowel in yóu is often started fully rounded, giving English "yo", when it should begin more open. And the rise is flattened because the first half of a compound feels unstressed.