怎么不一样呢? (or: on 变调, aka tone shifts)

[presumenothing]

(Or whatever the proper English term for this phenomenon is. Because sometimes you're just minding your own business and then suddenly it turns out that Pronunciation Is A Lie.)

Information as primarily sourced from this article with supplementary info from Baidu, because I 100% could not articulate these rules in any formal way even if you made me.

Very Important Note: While I'm writing out the tones-as-pronounced here for clarity, note that these changes are typically NOT reflected in written pinyin! Only change them aloud! Use their original pinyin in writing! 重要的事情说三遍

---

( why 你好 is not, in fact, nǐ hǎo )

( the myriad pronunciations of 一 )

( to quote hamlet act III, scene iii, line 92: 不 )

Aaaaand this is already long enough as it is – I can probably drop some instances of Zhou Shen being Very Accurate at pronunciation examples in context if anyone needs 'em (freebie: 借给我一盒火柴 is pronounced "jiè géi wǒ yì hé huo(down) chái", for starters).

ETA: See comments for more clarifications! And as also noted below, regional differences do still apply here (when don't they?) so don't be surprised if you hear differences in actual usage, this is basically BBC-English-but-Chinese standard rules as laid out here.

第八十三天

[nnozomi]

语法
有点, a little (too) ~ (also 有一点 or in northern dialects 有点儿), followed by negative adjectives
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22a_little_too%22_with_%22you_dian%22

词汇
吃, to eat (also 吃饭, eat a meal, and 好吃, tasty)
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-1-word-list/

Guardian:
可是有一点奇怪, but it's a little strange
等这个案子结了，我请你吃饭。/ 不，到时候应该是我来请你吃饭。When this case is finished, I'll treat you to a meal. / No, when that it happens it should be my treat.
就是你一下沈教授切换到黑老哥我有点儿错乱。With you switching from Professor Shen to Hei Lao-ge, I just got a little confused. (Oh, is that what they're calling it these days.)

My practice:
今天早起床有点麻烦，气压也低，我想要春眠。
吴邪的微笑有一点危险。
他做的鸡蛋菜真的好吃，而且又简单又快。

事务：
・Also don't miss the informative post below on (what I think is called) tone sandhi!
・Tags slightly revised, let me know if hard to use, other pinyin issues coming up.