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How to pronounce 才

How to pronounce

in Mandarin Chinese

cái才

only then; not until

HSK 3

Synthesized Mandarin audio · Vivian voice

cáiSecond tone

Hear it in conversation

Better Leaf 好葉Watch on YouTube ↗

,,

At this moment, Xiao Hua suddenly remembered that she hadn't completed the task assigned by her boss! This is not good...

Select a word for its meaning.

cái才

only then; just

HSK 5

Synthesized Mandarin audio · Vivian voice

cáiSecond tone

Hear it in conversation

Better Leaf 好葉Watch on YouTube ↗

,,

At this moment, Xiao Hua suddenly remembered that she hadn't completed the task assigned by her boss! This is not good...

Select a word for its meaning.

See it in a sentence.

。

I only found out yesterday.

!

It's correct now!

Hear the difference

A syllable has a shape.

Tone marks show how pitch changes. Colors help you follow each syllable in the app.

ā First toneHigh and level
á Second toneRising
ǎ Third toneLow, then rising in isolation
à Fourth toneFalling
a Neutral toneShort and light

These are dictionary tones. In natural speech, tones can change with context. A third tone often stays low before another syllable.

Dictionary and example sources

Definitions adapt CC-CEDICT through HSK 3.0, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Definitions are shortened for study.

Examples include Lock In original sentences and the Tatoeba Project, under CC BY 2.0 France. Chinese text is normalized to simplified characters. Pinyin follows the study dictionary.