Master Cantonese pronunciation with Jyutping romanisation — initials, finals, and the six tones that give Cantonese its melody.
Jyutping (粵拼) is the standard romanisation system for Cantonese, developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong. Every Cantonese syllable has three parts: an initial (consonant), a final (vowel + optional ending), and a tone (numbered 1–6).
Some syllables have no initial — they start directly with a vowel (e.g. aa1 呀). The tone number always comes at the end. Unlike Mandarin's 4 tones, Cantonese has 6 distinct tones, making it one of the most melodic Chinese languages.
Cantonese has 19 initial consonants. Many are similar to English sounds, but pay attention to the aspirated/unaspirated pairs.
| Jyutping | IPA | Like English... | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b | [p] | "b" in "spin" (unaspirated) | 巴 baa1 | |
| p | [pʰ] | "p" in "pin" (aspirated) | 怕 paa3 | |
| m | [m] | "m" in "moon" | 媽 maa1 | |
| f | [f] | "f" in "fun" | 花 faa1 | |
| d | [t] | "d" in "stun" (unaspirated) | 打 daa2 | |
| t | [tʰ] | "t" in "tun" (aspirated) | 他 taa1 | |
| n | [n] | "n" in "noon" | 你 nei5 | |
| l | [l] | "l" in "long" | 來 loi4 | |
| g | [k] | "g" in "skill" (unaspirated) | 哥 go1 | |
| k | [kʰ] | "k" in "kill" (aspirated) | 卡 kaa1 | |
| ng | [ŋ] | "ng" in "sing" (but at start) | 我 ngo5 | |
| h | [h] | "h" in "hat" | 好 hou2 | |
| gw | [kʷ] | "gw" in "Guam" (unaspirated) | 國 gwok3 | |
| kw | [kʷʰ] | "qu" in "quick" (aspirated) | 闊 kwut3 | |
| w | [w] | "w" in "want" | 話 waa6 | |
| z | [ts] | "ds" in "kids" (unaspirated) | 做 zou6 | |
| c | [tsʰ] | "ts" in "cats" (aspirated) | 叉 caa1 | |
| s | [s] | "s" in "sun" | 三 saam1 | |
| j | [j] | "y" in "yes" | 人 jan4 |
Cantonese has 8 core vowels. The most important distinction is between aa (long "ah") and a (short "uh").
| Jyutping | IPA | Like English... | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| aa | [aː] | long "ah" in "father" | 沙 saa1 |
| a | [ɐ] | short "u" in "cup" | 心 sam1 |
| e | [ɛː] | "e" in "bed" (longer) | 車 ce1 |
| i | [iː] | "ee" in "see" | 詩 si1 |
| o | [ɔː] | "or" in "more" (no r) | 多 do1 |
| u | [uː] | "oo" in "moon" | 夫 fu1 |
| oe | [œː] | "ur" in "nurse" (rounded lips) | 鋸 goe3 |
| eo | [ɵ] | shorter version of "oe" | 率 seot1 |
| yu | [yː] | French "u" in "tu" (rounded ee) | 書 syu1 |
Finals can end with -i, -u (glides), -m, -n, -ng (nasals), or -p, -t, -k (stops). Stops create the distinctive "checked" or "entering" tones.
| Ending | -i | -u | -m | -n | -ng | -p | -t | -k |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aa- | aai 大 | aau 交 | aam 三 | aan 山 | aang 硬 | aap 鴨 | aat 辣 | aak 客 |
| a- | ai 四 | au 收 | am 陰 | an 新 | ang 冷 | ap 急 | at 不 | ak 北 |
| e- | ei 你 | eu — | em — | en — | eng 鏡 | ep — | et — | ek 石 |
| i- | — | iu 超 | im 點 | in 片 | ing 英 | ip 碟 | it 熱 | ik 益 |
| o- | oi 愛 | ou 好 | — | on 安 | ong 香 | — | ot 渴 | ok 學 |
| u- | ui 回 | — | — | un 半 | ung 風 | — | ut 闊 | uk 六 |
| eo- | eoi 去 | — | — | eon 春 | — | — | eot 出 | — |
| oe- | — | — | — | — | oeng 香 | — | oet — | oek 腳 |
| yu- | — | — | — | yun 元 | — | — | yut 月 | — |
Cantonese also has syllabic nasals — consonants that form a complete syllable on their own:
| Jyutping | IPA | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| m | [m̩] | 唔 m4 | not (Cantonese negator) |
| ng | [ŋ̩] | 五 ng5 | five |
Cantonese has 6 tones that distinguish meaning. The same syllable with different tones becomes completely different words. Tones are described by their pitch contour — whether the voice stays high, falls, rises, or stays low.
Think of your voice range as having 5 levels: 5 (highest) to 1 (lowest). Each tone follows a path across these levels.
A popular mnemonic for all 6 tones uses the character 詩 (si):
These word pairs differ by only one sound — proving how important each distinction is in Cantonese.
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