Cantonese Ch.1-1 -- Onset (Phonology)

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(zou2 san4), where “z” and “s” are Onset here.

Onset

Basically, these consonant looks identical, or you may find alternative spelling in English, except
kw, 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(aa3)	k	k in king	卡(kaa1)
b	b in bar	巴(baa1)	ng	ng in sing	牙(ngaa4)
p	p in palm	怕(paa3)	h	h in harp	蝦(haa1)
m	m in mat	媽(maa1)	gw	gu in guava	瓜(gwaa1)
f	f in foul	花(faa1)	kw	qu in aqua	誇(kwaa1)
d	d in dip1	打(daa2)	w	w in wow	蛙(waa1)
t	t in tip1	他(taa1)	z	j in job but with a ‘t’ sound in front of it2	揸(zaa1)
n	n in nap	那(naa5)	c	c in chat2 without ‘h’ sound	叉(caa1)
l	l in lap	啦(laa1)	s	s in soup	沙(saa1)
g	g in gum	家(gaa1)	j	y in yes3	也(jaa5)

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(zoi3 gin3)， which means see you.

or you may say 下次見(haa6 ci3 gin3) which means see you next time!

So… 下次見(haa6 ci3 gin3)!

Next lesson: Rimes with a & aa

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Further reading: Jyutping, The linguistic Society of Hong Kong