Learn Hardcore Chinese: tā shuōhuà de shēngyīn hěn xiǎo, wǒ tīng bù tài qīngchu. - His voice is very soft when he speaks, and I can’t quite hear clearly.

说话的声音 literally = “the sound of (his) speaking” → “his speaking voice / the way he sounds when he talks.”
Pattern: [describing phrase] + 的 + [noun]
- 跑步的速度 = the speed of running
- 中国的菜 = Chinese food

You can’t say 他说话声音 in standard Mandarin; you need 的 to turn 说话 into an adjective-like modifier of 声音.

Why use 说话 (shuōhuà) instead of just 说 (shuō) here? Could it be 他说的声音?

说话 means “to speak / to talk” in a general sense.
- 他喜欢说话 = He likes talking (in general).
说 is usually “to say (something)” and expects content:
- 他说中文 = He speaks Chinese.
- 他说这件事 = He talked about this matter.

他说的声音 is not natural; it sounds like “the voice he said” (as if 声音 were the thing he said). We’re not talking about what he says, but how he sounds when speaking, so 说话的声音 is appropriate.

What’s the difference between 声音 (shēngyīn) and just 声 (shēng)? Could we say 他说话的声很小?

声音 is the normal modern word for “sound, voice.”
声 by itself is more literary or used in set phrases and measure-word phrases:
- 一声 = one sound (一声笑, 一声叫, 一声枪响)
- 声音 = the actual “sound/voice” as a noun

In everyday speech, you virtually always use 声音 here:

✅ 他说话的声音很小。
❌ 他说话的声很小。 (sounds odd / nonstandard in modern spoken Mandarin)

Why is 很 (hěn) used before 小? Can’t we just say 声音小?

In Mandarin, adjectives like 小, 大, 高, 热 often need an adverb (like 很) when used as predicates:

声音很小 literally: “the voice is very small/quiet,” but often just means “the voice is (quite) quiet” with no strong emphasis on very.
Saying 声音小 as a complete sentence can sound abrupt or ungrammatical in many contexts; it’s more natural with 很:
- ✅ 声音很小。
- ✅ 声音有点小。
- ❌ 声音小。 (can sound like an incomplete sentence unless in special contexts)

So here 很 is partly a “degree adverb” and partly a grammatical “link” to make the adjective act like an English “is + adjective.”

What does 不太 (bú tài) mean compared with just 不 or 太?

太 (tài) by itself usually means “too / excessively”:
- 他声音太小。= His voice is too quiet.
不太 (bú tài) softens it to “not very / not too”:
- 听不太清楚 = “I can’t hear very clearly / I don’t hear too clearly.”

Compare:

听不清楚 = I can’t hear clearly at all / clearly enough.
听不太清楚 = I don’t hear very clearly (I catch some, but not well).

不太 often expresses a moderate, polite negative: “not very …,” “not really …”

Why is it 听不太清楚 and not 听太不清楚 or something like that? What is the structure here?

听不太清楚 has this structure:

听 = to hear/listen
不太 = not very
清楚 = clear

So literally: “(I) hear not very clearly.”

You can think of it as:

听 + 不太 + 清楚
(verb) + (degree of negation) + (adjective/result)

不太 must go before 清楚, because it modifies the degree of “clear,” not the verb itself.
听太不清楚 is ungrammatical/unnatural.

Other similar patterns:

看不太懂 = can’t quite understand (by reading/looking)
吃不太饱 = not quite full after eating

What’s the difference between 听见 (tīngjiàn), 听清楚 (tīng qīngchu), and 听懂 (tīngdǒng)? Why use 听不太清楚 here?

These verbs focus on different results of listening:

听见 = to hear (perceive) a sound
- 我听见有人说话。= I hear someone talking.
听清楚 = to hear clearly (clarity of sound/words)
- 我听不清楚他在说什么。= I can’t hear clearly what he’s saying.
听懂 = to understand by hearing
- 我听不懂。= I don’t understand (when I listen).

In this sentence, the issue is clarity/volume, not just hearing something or understanding meaning, so 听不太清楚 (“I can’t hear very clearly”) is the natural choice.

Why is 清楚 (qīngchu) used here, and is it an adjective or an adverb? Why no 地 (de)?

清楚 means “clear / clearly” and functions both as an adjective and as a result complement.

In 听不太清楚:

It’s a result complement, describing the result of the action 听:
- “hear (how?) → not very clearly.”

Because 清楚 is part of the verb-complement structure (听 + 清楚), we do not use 地:

✅ 听不太清楚。
❌ 听不太清楚地。

地 is used for adverbs modifying how an action is carried out, before a main verb:

他小声地说话。= He speaks quietly.

Here, 清楚 comes after the verb as the result, so no 地.

I see 的 (de) here, but I’ve also seen 地 (de) and 得 (de). Why is this one written as 的, and why not 地 or 得?

The three de’s have different grammatical functions:

的: links a modifier to a noun (adjective/phrase → noun)
- 漂亮的衣服 = beautiful clothes
- 他说话的声音 = the sound of his speaking
地: links an adverbial to a verb (how something is done)
- 大声地说话 = speak loudly
得: links a verb to a complement (degree/result)
- 说得很快 = (he) speaks very fast

In 说话的声音, we are modifying a noun (声音), so we must use 的.
地 and 得 would be grammatically wrong here.

How should I pronounce 很小 and 不太清楚? Are there any tone changes or neutral tones?

Yes, there are common tone sandhi (tone-change) rules here:

很小
- Characters: 很(3rd) 小(3rd)
- 3rd tone + 3rd tone → the first 3rd tone becomes 2nd tone in actual speech:
  - Pronounced: hén xiǎo (2nd + 3rd), not “hěn xiǎo” robotically.
不太
- 不(4th) + 太(4th)
- 不 usually changes to 2nd tone before another 4th tone:
  - Pronounced: bú tài.
清楚
- 清(1st) 楚(originally 3rd, but commonly pronounced neutral)
- In everyday Mandarin, 楚 is usually neutral tone here:
  - Pronounced: qīngchu (first tone + neutral).

So natural pronunciation is roughly:
tā shuōhuà de shēngyīn hén xiǎo, wǒ tīng bú tài qīngchu.

Could this sentence be reordered or simplified? For example, are there more natural alternatives that mean almost the same thing?

Yes, several close variants are natural:

Slightly shorter:
- 他说话声音很小，我听不太清楚。
  - In speech, some people drop 的 in 说话的声音, but 说话的声音 is more standard.
Focus more directly on “I can’t hear him clearly”:
- 他说话太小声，我听不太清楚。
- 他说话太轻了，我听不太清楚。
Explicitly add what you can’t hear clearly:
- 他说话的声音很小，我听不太清楚他说什么。
  - “His voice is very quiet when he speaks, I can’t really hear clearly what he’s saying.”

All of these keep the same basic idea: he speaks quietly, so I don’t hear very clearly.