LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "昨天" in Chinese?
dzwor-TYEN: a rising first syllable with a "ds" onset, then a high level second with a strong puff of air.
zuótiān
A climb settling onto a plateau, with nothing to adjust. Where this word repays attention is in comparison with its two siblings: 今天 opens level, 明天 opens rising, and 昨天 opens rising too — so yesterday and tomorrow share a tonal shape and are separated only by their consonants and vowels.
Listen: 昨天
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
昨天我和朋友出去了。
Zuótiān wǒ hé péngyou chūqùle.
Yesterday I went out with friends.
Listen: 昨天我和朋友出去了。
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昨天我和朋友出去了。 keeps wǒ at a full dip because hé rises, then péngyou gives a rise and a toneless syllable, chū holds high, qù plunges, and le fades. Seven syllables and only one of them dips — the sentence spends most of its time in the upper half of the range, which is typical of narrative statements.
Where English speakers slip
Reading z as an English z removes the stop closure and leaves a buzz. Touch the ridge first. The rise on zuó is also under-produced, because the syllable feels like an unstressed opening — and a level zuō is not a word, so the result registers as unclear. Finally, the -ian final opens out to "tyahn" unless you consciously keep the vowel tight.