Though used in Mandarin extremely often, this tone is assigned no special diacritic mark in pinyin (拼音). Its "subsidiary" status can be explained by the fact that, actually, it is a "reduced" tone used only in certain combinations of words.
It can be quite difficult to know
when the character is pronounced with its "original" tone and when with
qing
sheng (輕聲). Since it can change the meaning of a word, it is
important to remember some simple rules.
1. When 子 (zi3), 兒 (er2), 們 (men2) and 頭 (tou2) are used as suffixes in nouns and pronouns, they are pronounced with qing sheng, e.g,
房子 (fang2 zi) 女 兒 (nv3 er) 舌頭 (she2 tou) 我們 (wo3 men)
However, in the words where 子 (zi3), 兒 (er2) and 頭 (tou2) bear a meaning in its own right, they are pronounced with their original pitch:
孔子
(kong3 zi3) 君子
(jun1
zi3)
天子
(tian1 zi3)
女子 (nv3 zi3)
男子 (nan2 zi3)
蓮子 (ian2
zi3)
蝦子 (xia1 zi3)
獨生子 (du2 sheng1 zi3)
嬰兒 (ying1 er2) 男兒 (nan2 er2) 健兒 (jian4 er2)
分頭
(fen1 tou3) 山頭
(shan1
tou3) 車頭
(che1 tou3) 魚頭
(yu tou3) 咽頭(兒)
(yin4
tou3 (er2))
2. The original tone may be coloquially omitted in the second element of some frequently used character compounds:
葡淘 (bu2 tao) 蘿蔔 (luo2 bo) 琵琶 (pi2 pa)
However, in written style words this does not occur:
徘徊
(pai2 huai2) 凜冽 (lin3
lie4) 蜿蜒 (wan3
yan2)
3. In compounds consisting of 2 same characters, the latter one is pronounced with qingsheng:
媽媽 (ma1 ma) 星星 (xing1 xing) 娃娃 (wa2 wa) 說說 (shuo1 shuo) 看看 (kan4 kan) 試試 (shi4 shi)
However, in some words it is not the case, viz.:
4. Auxiliary verbs are pronounced with qingsheng:in adjectives: 慢慢 (man4 man4) 高高 (gao1 gao1) 悄悄 (qiao3 qiao3) in nouns expressing time, volume, or space: 年年 (nian2 nian2) 家家 (jia1 jia1) in adverbs: 剛剛 (gang1 gang1) 每每 (mei3 mei3) 恰恰 (qia4 qia4)
我的 (wo3 de) 懂了 (dong3 le) 好嗎 (hao3 ma)
However, 了 (liao3), 著 zhao2, and when in combinations with 得 (de2) and 不 (bu4) are pronounced with their orignial tones:
念不了 (nian2 bu4 liao3) 喝得了 (he1 de liao3)
見不著(jian4
bu4 zhao2)
懂得著
(dong3 de zhao2)
5. Auxiliary words of direction (方位詞 fang1 wei4 ci2) 上 (shang4)﹐ 下 (xia4) and 裏 (li3) are pronounced with the light tone
天上
(tian1 shang) 底下 (di3
xia) 心裏 (xin1
li)
while auxiliary words of direction
qian2, hou4, nei1 and wai4 are pronounced with their original tone:
門前 (men2
qian2)
房後
(fang2 hou4)
室內
(shi4 nei4)
校外
(xiao4
wai4)
6. Numerals 一 (yi1), 十 (shi2) and 兩 (liang2)
When yi1 comes between two other words it is pronounced with qing sheng:
When 十 shi2 is between two other numerals, or between a numeral and a classifier (量詞) it is pronounced with qing sheng:
三十三 (san1 shi san1) 四十本 (si4 shi ben3)
When liang2 is used in the meaning "a couple" (indefinite as opposed to the definite "two") it is pronounced with qing sheng.
過兩天再說
(guo4 liang tian1 zai4 shuo1)
7. The classifier 個 ge4 is always
pronounced with qing sheng:
五個 (wu3 ge) 半個 (ban4 ge) 幾個 (ji3 ge) 哪個 (na3 ge) 這個 (zhe4 ge) 多少個 (duo1 shao3 ge)
However, when the character 個 is used in its independent meaning it is pronounced as ge4.
個別
(ge4 bie2) 整個
(zheng3
ge4) 個性
(ge4 xing4)
Yun4 dong4 jiar4 zhu4 zai 4 zhe 4 fang2 zi.
2. 他有個獨生子愛吃魚和蓮子
Ta1 you3 ge4 du sheng1 zi ai4 chi1 yu2 he2 lian2 zi.
3. 我女兒比他兒子大兩歲
Wo3 nur3 bi3 ta1 er2 zi da1 liang3 sui4.
4. 琵琶 “十面埋伏” 氣勢磅礡﹐你聽聽多好聽。
Pi2 pa ju "Shi2 mian4 mai2 fu2" qi4 shi4 pang4 bo2, ni3 ting ting duo1
hao3 ting1.
5. 古你聽得還不多﹐慢慢地你就會喜歡中國古
6 你看看﹐ 這裏過年家家都
7。我們也剛剛吃過年夜飯﹐咱們一起上花市去。
8 該來的都來了。
9 他有事來不了﹐好在叫的菜不多﹐還能吃得了。
10 著鮮花﹖ 我見不著哇﹗
11 你整天沒有事幹﹐吃得睡得著﹐家裡的事一點兒都不