Tones 2 , 3 and 6

You should know by now that Teochew is a tonal language and we have eight tones. 

Tones siaⁿ1diao7 聲調｜声调

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
33	53	21	3	55	35	11	5
辛	苦	種｜种	作	人	有	飯｜饭	食
sing1	kou2	zêng3	zoh4	nang5	u6	bung7	ziah8
arduously		plant	& grow	people	have	food	to eat

There are many ways to learn and memorise the tones like reading out what is on the table above sing1kou2 zêng3 zoh4 nang5 u6 bung7 ziah8.

However, I think in additional to reading of a list of words, one should also learn these tones in sets - i.e. 8 sets of tones. I think the three most important tones to get right from the beginning are tones 2, 3 and 6. Tone 2 is a short dropping tone, tone 3 is a slightly rising tone and tone 6 is a longer rising tone. 

I have picked up everyday words which we all know since little and therefore we all have to practice these until we can hear these tones and recognise them. 

We will learn and memorise tones 2, 3 and 6. 

At a later date, I will make a table for tones 1, 5 and 7 all flat long tones. 

Here we go:

Tone2

si2 死	die, very	si3 死
le2 汝	you	ni3 你
a2 拗	to break, to snap	she2 折
zua2 紙｜纸	paper	zhi3 紙｜纸
ua2 我	I, me, mine	wo3 我
huê2 火	fire	huo3 火
ki2 起	to rise	qi3 起
ziu2 酒	wine, alcohol	jiu3 酒
zui2 水	water	shui3 水
deng2 轉｜转	to return	hui2 回
liu2 扭	to dig	wa1 挖
gao2 狗	dog	gou3 狗

Tone 3

zo3 做	to do, to make, to produce	zuo4 做
ciag4iao3 切要	important	qie4yao4 切要
mai3 勿	don’t	bu4yao4 不要
ain3 欲	want	yao4 要
cui3 嘴	mouth	zui3 嘴 kou3 口
cai3 菜	vegetable, dishes	cai4 菜
gio3 叫	to call	jiao4 叫
ru5i3 如意	according to one’s wishes	ru2yi4 如意
cing3 秤	weighing scale	ya1cheng4 壓秤｜压秤
cing3 凊	cold, cool	leng3 冷 liang2 涼
cio3 笑	laugh	xiao4 笑
gao3 到	reach, until, to arrive	dao4 到
bou3 布	cloth	bu4 布
zui3 醉	drunk	zui4 醉

 Tone 6

lai6 內｜内	home	jia1 家
m6 唔	no, not, negative prefix	bu4 不
hou6 雨	rain	yu3 雨
neng6 卵	egg	dan4 蛋
hoi6 蟹	crab	螃蟹
gê6 下	short in height	ai3 矮
diang6 電｜电	electricity	dian4電｜电
a1’di6 阿弟	younger brother	di4di5 弟弟
u6 有	have	you3 有
pê6 扒	to row, to paddle	hua2 划
zên6 靜｜静	quiet, calm	an1jing4 安靜｜安静
si6 是	is, am, are, yes	shi4 是

 Do practice these regularly and soon I will post characters for tones 1, 5 and 7