Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "早" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 早 in Chinese?

早 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tsɑʊ˨˩˦/. It means “early.” dzao, low and sagging. A "ds" onset at the teeth, then a long glide from "ah" toward "oo".

dzao, low and sagging. A "ds" onset at the teeth, then a long glide from "ah" toward "oo".

早 /tsɑʊ˨˩˦/

zǎo

Whether this dips or rises is decided by the neighbour, and its most common companions vary: in 早上 the following syllable is toneless so zǎo keeps its dip, while in hěn zǎo it comes second and the adverb converts instead. Same word, two different roles in the sandhi.

Listen: 早

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Sound it out

z- The tip touches at the teeth ridge and releases into a hiss, with no voicing and no puff of air. The consonant at the end of "beds", used to begin a syllable.

-ao A long glide opening on "ah" and closing toward a rounded finish. Its length is helpful for a dipping tone, which needs room to sink.

zǎo (dip) Low and heavy throughout, with the final lift appearing when the word ends a phrase, as it does in the example below.

Hear it in a sentence

我今天起得很早。

Wǒ jīntiān qǐ de hěn zǎo.

I got up very early today.

Listen: 我今天起得很早。

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我今天起得很早。 ends with hěn and zǎo adjacent, both third tones, so hěn rises and zǎo keeps the full dip with its final lift: hén zǎo. Earlier, qǐ is followed by the toneless de, so it also keeps its dip. Three written third tones, one conversion — and the conversion is at the end, where beginners have usually stopped concentrating.

Where English speakers slip

The z becomes an English z, losing the stop closure. Aspirating instead gives cǎo, which means grass. On the tone side, the word often appears at the end of a sentence where English would let the pitch drift down gently — but a dipping tone is not a gentle fall, it is a descent to the floor with a possible lift, and the difference is audible.