How to read Cantonese with Jyutping, for beginners

Jyutping is the romanization most Cantonese learners use. It spells each syllable with ordinary letters and ends it with a tone number from 1 to 6, so 你好 is nei5 hou2. Once you can read it, any Cantonese text with Jyutping above it becomes something you can sound out.

What Jyutping is

Jyutping was published by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK). It is designed to be regular: one spelling for each sound and one sound for each letter. That is very different from English spelling, so read the letters as Jyutping, not as English words.

Initials that surprise English readers

• j is the English y sound: 一 jat1, 以 ji5, 夜 je6.
• z is like the z in pizza or the j in joe: 知 zi1, 左 zo2.
• c is like the ch in chick, the breathy partner of z: 車 ce1, 查 caa4.
• b, d, g are softer than in English. p, t, k come with a puff of air: 巴 baa1 vs 趴 paa1.
• ng can start a syllable: 我 ngo5, 牙 ngaa4.
• gw and kw are single initials with rounded lips: 過 gwo3.

Vowels and finals

• aa is long and a is short: 三 saam1 vs 心 sam1.
• yu is like German ü, i with rounded lips: 豬 zyu1, 雨 jyu5.
• oe and eo are rounded vowels: 鋸 goe3, 潤 jeon6. Mixing them up will rarely stop you being understood.
• Finals -p, -t and -k are stopped without a release: 濕 sap1, 失 sat1, 六 luk6.

The six tones

Each syllable ends with a tone number. The classic set uses the syllable si: 詩 si1 (poem), 史 si2 (history), 試 si3 (try), 時 si4 (time), 市 si5 (market), 事 si6 (matter). The six tones are high level, high rising, mid level, low falling, low rising and low level (also described as mid-low level). The tone changes the word, so never drop the number.

Syllables that end in -p, -t or -k are short, and Jyutping writes them with tone 1, 3 or 6: 食 sik6, 接 zip3.

Practice on real phrases

• 你好 nei5 hou2: hello.
• 唔該 m4 goi1: thanks, excuse me (for a service).
• 多謝 do1 ze6: thank you (for a gift).
• 早晨 zou2 san4: good morning.
• 香港 hoeng1 gong2: Hong Kong.

Common beginner mistakes

• Reading Jyutping as English spelling, for example saying seoi2 (水) like soy.
• Dropping the tone number, which turns si1 (poem) and si6 (matter) into the same word.
• Reading it as Hanyu Pinyin. Jyutping describes Cantonese, and many letters work differently.
• Fully releasing the final -k or -t, which sounds unnatural.

Practice with a reader

Reading real text is the fastest way to make Jyutping automatic. The Cantonese Jyutping reader shows Jyutping above any text you paste or import, plays words in a Cantonese voice, and lets you hide Jyutping when you want to test yourself.