Lessons for English speakers
Learn to read Cantonese
A short, active path into reading Cantonese: see how a character is built out of a meaning half and a sound half, learn the sixty characters a fable runs on, meet the grammar words 係 唔 嘅 咗 that mark written Cantonese out from Mandarin, and read a short story before opening your first book.
13 core sections · ≈ 34 min + 3 optional lookups · ≈ 43 min with everything
Sounds
1 section5
Six tones, and how much to worry about them
≈ 2 min
What you'll learn
- Cantonese has six tones: pitch is part of the word, the way a vowel is.
- Jyutping writes the tone as a number 1–6 after the syllable.
- One syllable, six tones, six unrelated words — that is what the numbers are for.
- For reading, tone is a heads-up, not homework: the character tells you which word it is.
In English, saying “cat” higher or lower does not change what it means. In Cantonese it would. The pitch of a syllable is part of the word, as much as its vowel is, and Cantonese uses six.
One syllable, six words
| Word | Pitch |
|---|---|
| 詩si1“poem” | high and level, like holding a note |
| 史si2“history” | starts mid and rises, like an English question |
| 試si3“to try” | mid and level |
| 時si4“time” | low and falling, like a sigh |
| 市si5“city, market” | low and rising slightly |
| 事si6“matter, affair” | low and level |
Tones 4, 5 and 6 sit in the bottom half of your voice; 1, 2 and 3 sit in the top half.
Three pairs where the tone is the whole difference
買maai5“buy”
賣maai6“sell”
one step of pitch apart, and opposite ends of the same transaction — the characters, thankfully, are not identical
我ngo5“I, me”
餓ngo6“hungry”
and you will meet both in a story about animals looking for food
死sei2“die”
四sei3“four”
near enough that many Hong Kong buildings skip the fourth floor
Two sounds English does not have
| Sound | How to make it |
|---|---|
| ng at the start of a word | the ending of “sing”, moved to the front: 我ngo5“I” |
| a final p, t or k | the mouth closes and no air escapes — 食sik6“eat” ends like the k of “sick”, cut off before it pops |
Everything else in Jyutping is close enough to English to start with. j is the y of “yes”; z and c are roughly the ds of “beds” and the ts of “cats”.
What is the number telling you?
- What is different between 買 and 賣 when said aloud?
Show answer +Hide answer −
Only the pitch. 買maai5“buy” is low-rising; 賣maai6“sell” is low-level. - In 朋友pang4 jau5, what do the 4 and the 5 mark?
Show answer +Hide answer −
The tone of each syllable. Both are low: 4 falls, 5 rises slightly.