Golden Rule of becoming a native Cantonese speaker: Tones > Everything!
In this blog, we use Jyutping to indicate the pronunciation of Cantonese characters.
Previous lesson: Introduction
Introduction of Onset
In this lesson, We start with Onset. They are all consonants that are used before vowels.
For example, “good morning” in Cantonese is 早晨, where “z” and “s” are Onset here.
Onset
Basically, these consonant looks identical, or you may find alternative spelling in English, exceptkw, z, and c might be a little unique.
| Jyutping | Sounds in English | Cantonese Example | Jyutping | Sounds in English | Cantonese Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | character that have no starting consonant (Null initial) | 呀 | k | k in king | 卡 |
| b | b in bar | 巴 | ng | ng in sing | 牙 |
| p | p in palm | 怕 | h | h in harp | 蝦 |
| m | m in mat | 媽 | gw | gu in guava | 瓜 |
| f | f in foul | 花 | kw | qu in aqua | 誇 |
| d | d in dip1 | 打 | w | w in wow | 蛙 |
| t | t in tip1 | 他 | z | j in job but with a ‘t’ sound in front of it2 | 揸 |
| n | n in nap | 那 | c | c in chat2 without ‘h’ sound | 叉 |
| l | l in lap | 啦 | s | s in soup | 沙 |
| g | g in gum | 家 | j | y in yes3 | 也 |
1If you are a native English speaker, you may notice that the Cantonese “d” sound is softer than in English, but the “t” sound is more challenging (the difference is negligible here). But if you have a problem pronouncing this pair, try to make your tongue touch the upper front teeth when creating the “d” and “t” sounds.
2In Cantonese, “c” and “z” are clear sounds without aspirated. You can try to not stress your lip and open your mouth wider.
3In most European languages, “j” sounds like “y” in English. For example, “ja” in German. Therefore, Jyutping chose “j” to represent this sound.
Learn a new word before you move on
In Cantonese, bye bye will be the most common way to say goodbye.
But you may also say 再見， which means see you.
or you may say 下次見 which means see you next time!
So… 下次見!
Next lesson: Rimes with a & aa
Further reading: Jyutping, The linguistic Society of Hong Kong
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