Hi ChinesePod team, my question is this:
How should the words “líng yǎng nǐ de” in this sentence be pronounced?
你父母领养你的时候，你多大？
nǐ fù mǔ líng yǎng nǐ de shí hòu, nǐ duō dà?
Should it be:
Hello Matija,
Good question! The rule of consecutive third tones can be confusing sometimes, but remember the rule of thumb is “no third tone should be together”!
So for this sentence,
nǐ fù mǔ lǐng yǎng nǐ de shí hòu, nǐ duō dà?
We know that [lǐng yǎng] is definitely a grouped phrase, so [lǐng] becomes [líng] -> [líng yǎng]
Now here comes the tricky part, what are we gonna do about [nǐ]?
It’s time to remember the rule of thumb! No third tone can be together, and if there are two third tones together, the first third tone should change into second tone.
So [líng yǎng nǐ] becomes [líng yáng nǐ] ->
nǐ fù mǔ líng yáng nǐ de shí hòu, nǐ duō dà?
When seeing complicated sentences like this, try to figure out which words can be grouped together first, and then use the rule of thumb!
Hope this helps!
Thank you for the clear explanation!