LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "再见" in Chinese?
dzai-JYEN, with both syllables dropping hard from high to low. Two consecutive fourth tones make this one of the most emphatic-sounding everyday words in Mandarin.
zàijiàn
Two fourth tones back to back, with no sandhi rule connecting them — Mandarin lets consecutive falling tones stand. In practice, though, the first of a pair is usually shortened and does not fall quite as far, so the phrase does not sound like two identical thumps. Give the fuller drop to jiàn.
Listen: 再见
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
老师，再见！
Lǎoshī, zàijiàn!
Goodbye, teacher!
Listen: 老师，再见！
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老师，再见！ puts a third tone and a first tone in front of the farewell: lǎo sits low, shī is high and flat, then both halves of zàijiàn fall. The comma matters — without the pause, lǎo would still be low because shī is not a third tone, but the break makes the contrast between the level shī and the plunging zài especially audible.
Where English speakers slip
The frequent mispronunciation is "zye-jee-EN" with three beats and a rising farewell melody, borrowing the tune English puts on "goodbye". Mandarin does the opposite: both syllables descend. Also watch the -ian final, which learners regularly open out to "jyahn"; the vowel should be the tight "eh" of "yen", closed off with the tongue tip at the teeth ridge.