# How are you? I'm very good.



## maghanish2

你好!

I don't know much Chinese, but I was just wondering if this dialogue makes sense.  Thank you for your help!  

Person A: 你好嗎? (How are you?)
Person B: 我很好.  你呢? (I'm very good.  And you?)
Person A: 我也好.  謝謝  (I'm good too.  Thanks!)
Person B: 再見! (Bye!)

謝謝!


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## AVim

Good!
It would be better if you change "我也好.  謝謝" to "我也*很*好.  謝謝".


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## maghanish2

Thanks Avim! Is that only because I'm saying "also" which usually means you are the same as the other person? That might not make sense, but again thanks for the help!

Also, I know that sometimes tones change when you actually use them in conversation, so would this be correct:

Person A: 你好嗎? (Ni2 hao4 ma)
Person B: 我很好. 你呢? (wo2 hen2 hao3)
Person A: 我也好. 謝謝 (wo2 ye2 hen2 hao3. xie4 xie4)
Person B: 再見! (zai4 jian4)

I hope I wrote the correct tones! 謝謝又!


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## twinklestar

maghanish2 said:


> Thanks Avim! Is that only because I'm saying "also" which usually means you are the same as the other person? That might not make sense, but again thanks for the help!


 
I'd say it is nothing related to 'also' or any tone. 

It is okay to say 我也好. '我也很好' just sounds natural. 

If you simply mean you are fine, you could say, "不错." 或"我不错".

By the way, you can say 再次谢谢 rather than 谢谢又. Chinese don't say in that way.


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## maghanish2

I see. It's hard to figure out all the subtle things like that in Chinese.

Okay, thanks for the advice! And if you have time to look and see if the tone changes I marked are correct, I would appreciate it!

再次謝謝!


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## xiaolijie

> It's hard to figure out all the subtle things like that in Chinese.


Learning always takes time, so take your time!



> And if you have time to look and see if the tone changes I marked are correct, I would appreciate it!


They're basically correct, but there can be variations.
By the way, there's a typo in your tone-marking for 好. It should be a 3rd tone, not 4th.


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## tzyy

maghanish2 said:


> Thanks Avim! Is that only because I'm saying "also" which usually means you are the same as the other person? That might not make sense, but again thanks for the help!
> 
> Also, I know that sometimes tones change when you actually use them in conversation, so would this be correct:
> 
> Person A: 你好嗎? (Ni2 hao4 ma)
> Person B: 我很好. 你呢? (wo2 hen2 hao3)
> Person A: 我也好. 謝謝 (wo2 ye2 hen2 hao3. xie4 xie4)
> Person B: 再見! (zai4 jian4)
> 
> I hope I wrote the correct tones! 謝謝又!


 
you know the 4 tones f chinese characters, namely, the level tone,as you mean 1,or symbol -; the rising tone,2 symbol／; the falling-rising tone, 3 symbol∨; the falling tone, 4 symbol\.

from the name of these four babies~ you might learn something, did your friend told you about that before  

Person A: 你好嗎? (Ni2 hao3 ma)
Person B: 我很好. 你呢? (wo3 hen3 hao3)
Person A: 我也好. 謝謝 (wo3 ye3 hen3 hao3. xie4 xie4)
Person B: 再見! (zai4 jian4)

I'm telling you the standard version, of course when you are familiar with these pronouciation, "
Person B: 我很好. 你呢? (wo2 hen2 hao3)
Person A: 我也好. 謝謝 (wo2 ye2 hen2 hao3. xie4 xie4)"
can be right, but these need liaisons, or it would be very stange.


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## maghanish2

Thanks to both of you.

However, tzyy, I'm a little confused.  I was told that, for example, if a third tone is followed by another third tone, then the first third tone is actually spoken as a second tone.  Is this true?

And I also read that if a third tone precedes a first, second, fourth, or neutral tone it becomes a fourth tone.  That is why I wrote: ni2hao4ma.

Is this not true?


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## tzyy

maghanish2 said:


> Thanks to both of you.
> 
> However, tzyy, I'm a little confused. I was told that, for example, if a third tone is followed by another third tone, then the first third tone is actually spoken as a second tone. Is this true?
> 
> And I also read that if a third tone precedes a first, second, fourth, or neutral tone it becomes a fourth tone. That is why I wrote: ni2hao4ma.
> 
> Is this not true?


 
Yes, theoretically, it is the rule of liaison in Chinese. However, your pronunciation might be a little bit unhelpful, and I suggest you begin with the standard one. When you can speak chinese fluently, in standard, or daily Chinese tone, you will natuarlly catch up with the liaison rules~ just need a little time~~ if you speak not fast enough, and you're using that rule, your tone would be pretty strange. hope that helps~


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## maghanish2

Okay, so the rules that I wrote are correct, but only in like conversational chinese?  If you are just saying the words slowly you have to use there "real" tones?


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## Wobby

I think that's the case: I think that these changes occur semi-naturally... Natives feel free to correct me if I'm wrong! 

Saying two third tones in a row is pretty difficult, especially when you try to say them quickly in succession, so the sounds are modified a bit to compensate. But I don't think the sound of two thirds in a row sound _exactly_ like a second followed by a third.

However, I don't think the one about the 3rd tone being changed into a 4th tone if followed by anything but a third is quite right. I think there is a tonal change (look under Tone Sandhi for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_mandarin) which makes the third tone be cut short so it only has the falling bit, but it still starts low, and could not really be considered to sound anything much like a 4th tone... Trying to forcibly bring about this change by saying it as a 4th tone would probably cause much confusion (for example, saying hao4 ma might make it sound like you are trying to say 号码 'number' if it weren't for context). Probably much more so than reading two 3rd tones in succession as a 2nd and 3rd tone, which I think would be more acceptable.

I think the only ones that you should really focus on actively making a tone change in is for 一 and 不.


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## tzyy

maghanish2 said:


> Okay, so the rules that I wrote are correct, but only in like conversational chinese? If you are just saying the words slowly you have to use there "real" tones?


 That is my understanding~


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## tzyy

practice makes perfect～


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## maghanish2

All right, thanks tzyy!  謝謝!!!


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## Jamison

Person A: 我也好. 謝謝 (wo3 ye3 hen3 hao3. xie4 xie4)
I think it should be better pronounced like 我也好. 謝謝 (wo3 ye3 hen3 hao3. xie4 [xie]).

Because in chinese, if we say two same words together like 谢谢，看看，擦擦， we always say the second word in a soft voice.


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## maghanish2

Thanks Jamison!  However, I heard that you never say three third tones in a row.  Is that wrong?  For example, if you just say the sentence at a normal conversation speed, what would the tones be MOST like?


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## xiaolijie

maghanish2 said:
			
		

> I heard that you never say three third tones in a row. Is that wrong?


That is correct! _In normal speech_ you don't even say 2 third tones in a row, not to mention 3.



> if you just say the sentence at a normal conversation speed, what would the tones be MOST like?


Just as already mentioned above:
*我很好 = wo2 hen2 hao3* ("wo3 hen2 hao3" is a possible variation, but you shouldn't worry about this for now)


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## maghanish2

Okay, thanks xiaolijie.  I just wanted to make sure!  Thanks for all the help!


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