When is “得” pronounced “de” and when is it pronounced “dei”? I have noticed that there are two different pronunciations of 得： - Usually it's pronounced "de". - in some situations it's pronounced "dei" as in:

老百姓想自强
那就得学习点别人先进的东西。


When is “得” pronounced “de” and when is it pronounced “dei”?
得
děi


Is a verb that means:


  need/must


Like:


  我们得走了
  We gotta go.





得
de


Is an auxiliary partial that modifies or qualifies a verb.

Like:


  说得好！
  Well said!