JYUTONE The letters represent the sound, and the final digit marks the tone. Do not read the spelling as a sequence of English letter names. Jyutping is the romanisation system developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong. Start by taking the syllable apart, then listen to the contrasting examples.
01 · Syllable
Most Cantonese syllables split into three pieces.
The initial is the opening sound. The final splits again into a nucleus and a coda. Switch a few characters below and watch which parts show up, and which are left empty.
initial + nucleus + coda + tone
Letter count is not sound count. Read ng, gw, and yu as units. A nasal can also stand as a whole syllable, as in 唔 m4.
02 · Initials
Reuse the Mandarin consonants you already have.
Jyutping initials group cleanly. Many map to a nearby Mandarin place of articulation, but these sets deserve extra care.
These are the ones people most often misread:
| Jyutping | How to find the place | Example |
|---|---|---|
| j | Close to the y in Mandarin 衣 / 呀 | 夜 je6 |
| z c s | Start from Mandarin alveolar z c s, not the retroflexes | 知 zi1, 詞 ci4, 詩 si1 |
| gw kw | Say g/k and round the lips at the same time; one initial, not two | 瓜 gwaa1, 誇 kwaa1 |
| ng | Take the final nasal of Mandarin 昂 and move it to the start of the syllable | 我 ngo5 |
Jyutping j is like y, not Mandarin j in 雞. For si1, attach s to a vowel near 衣; do not read it as Mandarin 絲.
Hold a palm in front of the mouth and compare b/p, d/t, g/k: the second of each pair has a clearer puff of air. The contrast is aspiration, not the voiced/voiceless split English speakers expect.
03 · Vowels
Pin down the vowels people mix up first.
The mouth hints in the table are a starting point. After you read them, go listen to the contrast examples. Do not just stretch or shrink the same “ah”.
| Focus | How it feels | Contrast |
|---|---|---|
| aa vs a | aa is more open and usually longer; a is more central and usually shorter | 三 saam1 ↔ 心 sam1 |
| yu | Close to Mandarin ü; two letters, one vowel | 豬 zyu1, 雨 jyu5 |
| e | Close to the vowel in English yes; not the final of Mandarin 餓 | 寫 se2, 借 ze3 |
| oe vs eo | Two different rounded vowels with no direct Mandarin match | 香 hoeng1, 佢 keoi5 |
| ung vs ong | ung is closer to Mandarin pinyin ong; Jyutping ong is more open | 公 gung1 ↔ 江 gong1 |
Start with one pair: saam1 → sam1 → saam1 → sam1. Keep the opening s, the closing m, and the tone the same. Feel only the vowel change. Learn aa as a whole.
Hear complete finals together. The i in si1 and sing1 is not the same quality, and u also shifts before different codas. Do not treat every spelling as a stack of letter names.
04 · Codas
A lot of the “Cantonese sound” lives in how the syllable ends.
Start with the three nasal endings:
- ‑m: lips close.
- ‑n: tongue tip against the upper gum ridge.
- ‑ng: tongue back rises to the soft palate.
The three stop endings close in the same places: ‑p, ‑t, ‑k. Switch the examples and watch where the mouth shuts.
After a nasal closure, air can still leave through the nose. ‑p/‑t/‑k stop at the closure: no burst, no extra vowel.
Try this with your mouth: say aa, close the lips, and keep a light hum — that is aam. Then close the lips and simply stop — that is aap. When you read a real word, join the gestures.
05 · Tones
Jyutping marks six tones with 1–6. The digits are labels, not a pitch ranking.
The charts use a separate 1–5 scale from low to high. A contour 35 means “rise from mid to high”, not “tone 3 then tone 5”. These are relative pitches; nobody has to hit the same absolute note.
Relative pitch: 1 lowest, 5 highest. The dashed line on tone 4 is low-level 11.
Tone 4 is often written as low-level 11 in beginner notes, and as low-falling 21 in scheme tables. The chart keeps both. Catch the low register first and copy a recording; do not drop it from high the way Mandarin tone 4 does. Chao numbers here are a teaching sketch — analyses differ slightly on tones 2 and 5.
- First the three level tones. Read the same syllable 1 → 3 → 6, like three steps: high, mid, lower, each held flat.
- Then the two rising tones. Tone 2 climbs higher; tone 5 starts lower and rises only into the middle.
- Then listen in shuffled order. Trace the pitch in the air with a finger as you read.
You may hear that Cantonese has nine tones. Traditional labels count three entering tones separately. Jyutping usually writes their pitch as 1, 3, and 6, and lets the ‑p/‑t/‑k coda mark them. Examples: 一 jat1, 八 baat3, 六 luk6. Six numbers are enough while you learn Jyutping.
Put it together on 粵語 jyut6 jyu5: jyut6 starts with j, then yu, then the tongue tip holds at t, tone 6. jyu5 is the same j + yu, no stop coda, tone 5. The shared part is obvious; the difference is the ending and the tone.
06 · Speak
Join the pieces on a few short phrases.
nei5 hou2 is “hello”. On the last line, read it in chunks first, then connect them.
| Cantonese | Jyutping | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 你好 | nei5 hou2 | Hello |
| 唔該 | m4 goi1 | Excuse me; thanks for a favor or service |
| 多謝 | do1 ze6 | Thanks, often for a gift or hospitality |
| 我想學粵語 | ngo5 soeng2 hok6 jyut6 jyu5 | I want to learn Cantonese |
The last line can split as ngo5 | soeng2 | hok6 | jyut6 jyu5. Read each chunk clearly first — especially the ‑k of hok6 and the ‑t of jyut6 — then connect them.
07 · Ten minutes
Do one round today in ten minutes.
Check off what you finish. Record and compare inside the Jyutone app.
08 · Check
Think first, then check.
Pick an answer to see the note.
1. In zyu1, is yu one vowel or two syllables?
2. At the end of jyut6, should you release an extra “t” burst?
3. Tones 2 and 5 both rise. Do they sit at the same pitch height?
What to learn next
If you speak Mandarin and are new to Cantonese, use these five stages as a practical route forward. This page helps you hear the sound system; Jyutone helps you put it into practice.
- 1Hear the sounds
- 2Build your own sentences
- 3Get through daily talk
- 4Speak in longer stretches
- 5Talk naturally
Once you can hear it, let Jyutone watch the pitch
Splitting the syllable is only the first step. Record 你好 and 我想學粵語 in Jyutone, then compare your pitch contour with the reference.