ZI-4

('zi' in the fourth tone)

The ‘i’ after 'z' is pronounced only very lightly. The ‘zi’ is definitely not pronounced like in English ‘hit’ or ‘zinc’. Rather the sound is like the 'e' in 'her', or the 'u' in 'church'.

There are some 54 standard Chinese characters that are spoken 'zi'. Common sound-determining elements are 子 and 此.

The fourth tone is usually identified as a falling tone. However, trying to consciously speak a falling tone with a single syllable is quite a challenge. It's better to imagine that you are throwing away this particular word.

字 = character

汉字 = han(4)zi(4) = Chinese character

字符 = zi(4)fu(2) = character on a computer keyboard (could be a letter, number, or symbol)

4至8字符 = si(4) zhi(4) ba(1) zi(4)fu(2) = four to eight character (for example, when a password is created)

*****

自 = self

The character for zi(4) is a combination of one pie(3) stroke and the character 目 = mu(4), the 'eye' character, which, however, is not the common word for 'eye'.

While 自 in itself means 'self', the more complete word for 'self' in combinations like 'myself' and 'yourself' is:

自己 = zi(4)ji(3) = self

Not always when in English 'myself' is used, the best Chinese version would use 自己.

English sentence

I study myself.

Wrong Chinese:

Wo xue xi zi ji.

(The verb should come at the end.)

Better:

Wo zi ji xue xi.

Best:

Wo yi ge ren xue xi.

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我自己来. = Wo(3) zi(4)ji(3) lai(2). = I do it myself.

This is idiomatic. 来, of course, means 'to come'. But the phrase can be used with the meaning 'I do it myself', when no 'coming' is implied. Somebody wants to carry your bag, which you consider unnecessary, so you can state 我自己来. 

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There many words that combine zi(4) with usually one other character. Here just a very small selection:

自动 = zi(4)dong(4) = automatic (lit. 'self move')

自杀 = zi(4)sha(1) = commit suicide

自行车 = zi(4)xing(2)che(1) = bicycle