Does 过 always become neutral when added to a verb?

[Christa]

Hi guys,

A tone question. Am I correct in thinking that 过 is fourth tone on its own but always neutral when it's added to the end of a verb? E.g.  吃过, 去过 etc?

 

Is that correct?

 

Just having one of my mental aberrations again...

[anonymoose]

I think it would be more accurate to say that it has a neutral tone as an aspect marker and fourth tone as a verb.

It can also be used as a complement of direction and thus added to a verb, and in this situation also has a fourth tone. So, no, it is not always neutral tone when added to a verb.

[Christa]

3 minutes ago, anonymoose said:

I think it would be more accurate to say that it has a neutral tone as an aspect marker and fourth tone as a verb.

It can also be used as a complement of direction and thus added to a verb, and in this situation also has a fourth tone. So, no, it is not always neutral tone when added to a verb.

 

Thank you so much, Anonymoose, this is really useful.

 

So when I'm saying things like "No I've never been to Disneyland before" or "have you eaten stinky tofu?" I should use a neutral tone. Is that correct?

[陳德聰]

It's only neutral tone if the syllable is not stressed. If you stress the aspect particle as you would if you were trying to focus on it, it definitely comes out as a fourth tone.

 

Or I guess if I wanted to be more helpful, it's more like it's neutral unless you stress it. Definitely more often neutral as an aspect particle than it is fourth.

[SongSongSong]

Hello, I'm a Chinese. We don't really think too much about whether 过 is fourth tone or neutral when added to a verb, but I personally think it should be fourth tone. However, it's okay to say neutral since they sound really similar.