six of them are considered unique tones. This discrepancy occurs because two of the eight sounds are reduced to stopped syllables, despite already sharing the same pitch as the six main tones. Additionally, depending on the position of a word in a phrase, the tones can change and adopt extensive tone sandhi. {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+Teochew tones ! Tonenumber!!Tone name!!Pitchcontour!!Description!!Sandhi |- | 1 || yin level () || (3) || mid || 1 |- | 2 || yin rising () || (52) || falling || 6 |- | 3 || yin departing () || (213) || low rising || 2 or 5 |- | 4 || yin entering () || (2) || low checked || 8 |- | 5 || yang level () || (5) || high || 7 |- | 6 || yang rising () || (35) || high rising || 7 |- | 7 || yang departing () || (1) || low || 7 |- | 8 || yang entering () || (4) || high checked || 4 |} As with sandhi in other Min Nan dialects, the checked tones interchange. The yang tones all become low. Sandhi is not accounted for in the description below. Grammar The grammar of Teochew is similar to other Min languages, as well as some southern varieties of Chinese, especially with Hakka, Yue and Wu. The sequence 'subject–verb–object' is typical, like Standard Mandarin, although the 'subject–object–verb' form is also possible using particles. Morphology Pronouns Personal pronouns The personal pronouns in Teochew, like in other Chinese languages, do not show case marking, therefore means both I and me and means they and them. The southern Min dialects, like some northern dialects, have a distinction between an inclusive and exclusive we, meaning that when the addressee is being included, the inclusive pronoun would be used, otherwise is employed. Outside Southern Min varieties like Teochew, no other southern Chinese variety has this distinction. Possessive pronouns Teochew does not distinguish the possessive pronouns from the possessive adjectives. As a general rule, the possessive pronouns or adjectives are formed by adding the genitive or possessive marker [kai5] to their respective personal pronouns, as summarised below: As is the generic measure word, it may be replaced by other more appropriate classifiers: Demonstrative pronouns Teochew has the typical two-way distinction between the demonstratives, namely the proximals and the distals, as summarised in the following chart: Interrogative pronouns Numerals Note: