How do you pronounce 3 or more third tones in a row?

For example, if we want to say:

请你给米老鼠买两把索马里雨伞。 

Step 1: Identify the characters that are closely related and put them in semantic groups:

请 / 你 / 给 / 米 / 老鼠 / 买 / 两 / 把 / 索马里 / 雨伞。 

Step 2: Combine single-character words into one group:

请你给米 / 老鼠 / 买 / 两把 / 索马里 / 雨伞。 

Step 3: Apply the tone pattern 2….2223 to each group:

2223 / 23 / 3 / 23 / 223 / 23 Qíngnígéi Mǐ láoshǔ mǎi liángbǎ Suómálǐ yúsǎn. 

More info:

This post on Zhihu also answers this question pretty well: https://www.zhihu.com/question/24645389.

Different Chinese people may also pronounce them differently as they mentally group words in slightly different ways. Maybe that's why dictionaries never label this tone change.

Typically students learn these tone change rules not by memorization but naturally as they hear more authentic Mandarin speech.

submitted by /u/ChineseZeroToHero
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