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.
Word lookup: numbers, people, colours, body, time
- Open this when you want a word. Neither closing story needs any of these lists memorised.
- The numbers are built by stacking: ten-one is eleven, two-ten is twenty.
- A number in front of a noun still needs its counting word.
- Family words are more specific than English: older and younger brothers have different words.
- Colours take 色sik1 — “red colour”, not just “red”.
One to ten, and how to keep going
| Number | Cantonese |
|---|---|
| 1 | 一jat1 |
| 2 | 二ji6 — but 兩loeng5 when counting things |
| 3 | 三saam1 |
| 4 | 四sei3 |
| 5 | 五ng5 |
| 6 | 六luk6 |
| 7 | 七cat1 |
| 8 | 八baat3 |
| 9 | 九gau2 |
| 10 | 十sap6 |
Above ten the pattern is arithmetic: 十一sap6 jat1“eleven” is ten-one, 二十ji6 sap6“twenty” is two-ten, 二十三ji6 sap6 saam1“twenty-three” is two-ten-three. There is nothing irregular to learn.
People
| English | Cantonese |
|---|---|
| mother | 媽媽maa4 maa1 |
| father | 爸爸baa4 baa1 |
| older brother | 哥哥go4 go1 |
| younger brother | 細佬sai3 lou2 |
| older sister | 家姐gaa1 ze1 |
| younger sister | 細妹sai3 mui2 |
| boy | 男仔naam4 zai2 |
| girl | 女仔neoi5 zai2 |
There is no plain word for “brother” or “sister” — you have to choose older or younger. Notice 細sai3“small” doing the work of “younger”, and 仔zai2 making a small person.
Colours
| English | Cantonese |
|---|---|
| red | 紅色hung4 sik1 |
| yellow | 黃色wong4 sik1 |
| blue | 藍色laam4 sik1 |
| green | 綠色luk6 sik1 |
| black | 黑色hak1 sik1 |
| white | 白色baak6 sik1 |
The second character is 色sik1“colour” every time, so once you can see it the whole column becomes readable. To hook a colour onto a noun, use 嘅ge3: 黑色嘅狗hak1 sik1 ge3 gau2“a black dog”.
The body, and telling the time of day
| English | Cantonese |
|---|---|
| hand | 手sau2 |
| mouth | 口hau2 |
| eye | 眼ngaan5 |
| heart | 心sam1 |
| today | 今日gam1 jat6 |
| tomorrow | 聽日ting1 jat6 |
| yesterday | 琴日kam4 jat6 |
| morning | 朝早ziu1 zou2 |
Three of the four day words end in 日jat6“day”, the sun character from the first decoding.
Days of the week, and the clock
| English | Cantonese |
|---|---|
| Monday | 星期一sing1 kei4 jat1 — “week” plus the number |
| Tuesday to Saturday | 星期二sing1 kei4 ji6 … 星期六sing1 kei4 luk6 |
| Sunday | 星期日sing1 kei4 jat6 — the day character, not seven |
| what time is it? | 幾點呀？gei2 dim2 aa3? |
| three o’clock | 三點saam1 dim2 |
| half past three | 三點半saam1 dim2 bun3 |
| morning, before noon | 上晝soeng6 zau3 |
| afternoon | 下晝haa6 zau3 |
| evening, night | 夜晚je6 maan5 |
In speech 禮拜lai5 baai3 often replaces 星期: 禮拜一“Monday”. 點dim2 is the “o’clock” word, so “how many” plus 點 asks the time.