Sounds & Tones
Cantonese is a tone language: saying a phrase is a bit like singing a short melody. The pitch pattern must be correct for the phrase to be understood.
Cantonese has 6 main tones:
- Tone 3 → speak normal voice
- Tone 1 → speak higher than normal
- Tone 6 → speak lower than normal
- Tone 2 → start normal, rise
- Tone 4 → drop downward
- Tone 5 → start low, rise a little
You can think tones 1, 3, 6 as one musical note, while the changing tones 2,4,5 are two notes moving up or down.
Flat tones examples| Tones | Samples |
|---|---|
| 1-3-1 | |
| 3-3-1 | |
| 3-3-3 | |
| 1-3-3 | |
| 3-3-6 | |
| 6-3-3 |
| Tones | Samples |
|---|---|
| 3-3-2 | |
| 3-3-4 | |
| 3-3-5 |
More: Video (15 seconds) and Video (1 min)
Pronunciation
Website uses Jyutping, the most popular system.
Format = syllable + tone number with color.
Example: si1 si2 si3 si4 si5 si6
Real-life pronunciation Most Hong Kongers use "lazy" Cantonese, most common patterns:
- drop starting "ng-" E.g. 我 ngo5 ->o5 I/me
- starting "N" becomes "L" E.g. 你 nei5 ->lei5 You
Sentence Structure, Basic Grammar
- Core order = Subject + Verb + Object (no verb conjugation)
我食飯 ngo5 sik6 faan6 — I eat rice.
佢去學校 keoi5 heoi3 hok6 haau6 — He goes to school. - Negation uses 唔 (m4) before the verb
我唔食飯 ngo5 m4 sik6 faan6 — I don’t eat rice. - Yes/no questions use 係唔係…? (hai6 m4 hai6…?)
係唔係你嚟？ hai6 m4 hai6 nei5 lai4 — Is it you coming? - Past actions use 咗 (zo2) after the verb
我食咗飯 ngo5 sik6 zo2 faan6 — I ate / have eaten. - Ongoing actions use 緊 (gan2) after the verb
我食緊飯 ngo5 sik6 gan2 faan6 — I am eating. - Future or intention uses 會 (wui5) or 要 (jiu3) before the verb
我會去 ngo5 wui5 heoi3 — I will go.
我要食飯 ngo5 jiu3 sik6 faan6 — I’m going to eat. - Questions often end with 呀 / 嗎 / 呢 (aa3 / maa3 / ne1)
你好嗎？ nei5 hou2 maa3 — How are you? - No verb conjugation, gender, or plural changes
Words stay the same regardless of tense or number.