Should the second character in 回来了 be pronounced with second or fourth tone?

Question

I almost always hear 来 pronounced as lài in 回来了, but are there any rules of tone sandhi that account for this?

Answer 1

I am a native speaker. The term 回来了 is of course pronounced with ㄏㄨㄟˊ ㄌㄞˊ ㄌㄜ˙, so the second character is pronounced with 2nd tone. And the word 来 can only be pronounced with 2nd tone. (I've never heard 4th tone.)

Answer 2

The intonation of Chinese characters has basically been fixed by dictionaries or other officially defined textbooks, and multiple pronunciations and applicable situations of the same Chinese character have also been explained, so there are no rules related to tone change. Taking "coming back" as an example, there are generally two situations where the fourth sound of lài is made:

1. In the northeastern region of China, the local accent is commonly pronounced as lài.
2. Emotional behaviors such as arguments and arguments can lead to abnormal pronunciation.

Answer 3

Single character will have generally accepted tone or tones，but when used in combination with the others，things may get more complex. It is even better for you if you can remember which tones are not commonly used instead of the “correct” for a character in a phrase. In this case，I would say the third tone is not quite common，but you may hear the rest from time to time as they kinda show different emotions or hidden intentions.

Answer 4

The pronunciation of 来 alone is lái (second tone), but when used as after a verb indicating movement towards the speaker, it usually becomes toneless, which sounds like the fourth tone to some extent. For example: 回来 (huílai), 过来 (guòlai), 下来 (xiàlai), 进来 (jìnlai). I've never heard of 来 pronounced as lài (fourth tone).

It's also interesting to note that 来 and 了 are both toneless here. In this situation, 来 is pronounced slightly higher than 了, which makes it have a descending trend, sounding more similar to the fourth tone.

The statements above only holds true in northern China. People in different regions may have different accents.

PS: Wiktionary is really comprehensive about tone changes (you need to click on "more" in the Pronunciation section to expand details), so you can use that as a good reference.