Cantonese Ch.1-2 -- Rimes with a & aa (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

Recap of Rimes

Rimes is a syllable of vowels with consonants that you can rhyme!

For example, in English, the Rime of “Cow” is “ow”; in Cantonese, cow is 牛(ngau4), and the Rime is “au”.

Difference of a and aa

Two vowels in Cantonese start with a. a sounds like “uh” in English, and aa “ahhh” in English.

And all their combinations as well. For example, 分(fan1) sounds like “fun”, and 飯(faan6) sounds like “fran” in France without “r” sound.

Still, it may be difficult to distinguish their difference when they form rimes with other sounds.

A trick to pronounce any combinations of the aa sound is to try to add the “ahhh” sound before a.
For example, ap sounds like “up” in English, and aap sounds like “ahh-up” in one syllable.

Let’s see all the rimes combinations with a and aa!

Rimes with a

Jyutping	Sounds in English	Cantonese Example	Jyutping	Sounds in English	Cantonese Example
a	uh in bruh	嘞(laa3)	ang	ung in sung	增(zang1)
ai	i in night	擠(zai1)	ap	up in cup	汁(zap1)
au	ull in dull	周(zau1)	at	utt in butt	質(zat1)
am	um in sum	針(zam1)	ak	uck in duck	則(zak1)
an	un in fun	珍(zan1)

Rimes with aa

Jyutping	Sounds in English	Cantonese Example	Jyutping	Sounds in English	Cantonese Example
aa	a in far	渣(zaa1)	aang	an in France but ends with ng not n	爭(zang1)
aai	i in high	齋(zaai1)	aap	alm in calm with p instead	集(zaap6)
aau	ow in wow	嘲(zaau1)	aat	alm in calm with t instead	紮(zaat3)
aam	alm in calm	站(zaam6)	aak	alm in calm with k instead	窄(zaak3)
aan	an in France	讚(zaan3)

Learn a new word before you move on

In Cantonese, 早抖(zou2 tau2) will be another most common thrase you may hear, which means good night.

Its literally meaning is sleep early, it is a good wish because nowadays people sleep quite late right?

So again… 下次見(haa6 ci3 gin3)!

Next lesson: Rimes with e

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Further reading: Jyutping, The linguistic Society of Hong Kong