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.
Start here
1 sectionStart here: what this path does
- This path starts from no Cantonese and ends with a short story whose pronunciation and English begin hidden.
- You decode ten real characters in the very next section, before any explanation of how characters work.
- The books are in written Cantonese in Traditional characters, as Hong Kong writes it — not Mandarin.
- The pronunciation guide is Jyutping, with a tone number 1–6 on every syllable.
- Three sections are reference tables. Open them when something blocks you and walk past them otherwise.
This is short preparation for reading a book, not a complete course. Cantonese asks something different of a beginner than French or Spanish do: the characters do not spell out their sound, so you cannot sound out a word you have never seen. What you can do — quickly, and this is the whole plan — is learn to recognise the pieces a character is built from, learn the sixty-odd characters a small story actually runs on, and learn the handful of little words that tell you who did what.
cat
貓
maau1
The large text is the Cantonese. maau1 is the pronunciation guide, and the number is the tone. The English is the meaning. At checkpoints, the last two stay hidden until you choose to reveal them.
How to use a checkpoint
Look at the Cantonese first. Then reveal.
- 貓
One character, one syllable, one word. Its left side is an animal marker.
Show answer +Hide answer −
貓maau1“cat”. Say “maau” on a high, level pitch.