Tones are really the most difficult aspect of Cantonese at the
outset. For all practical purposes, there are 7 tones in Cantonese
(and only 6 of them really need to be mastered). Each word or
phrase must be spoken at the right pitch or it is wrong and probably
will be misunderstood. An easy way of thinking of it is as musical
notes (like putting a little "soul" in a song.) Among
the tones, there are three main starting levels: High, Middle and
Low.
The other tones are created by moving between the tone
levels. Unfortunately, programming
constraints make it difficult to use the Yale system of marking
tones. So the tone marks used in this website are an adaptation of
the Yale system.
Pay particular attention to the silent "H"which is used to denote low tones. Also note that there is no middle
falling tone, so a sound with no "h" and falling marks is pronounced
as High Falling.
The table below illustrates how Cantonese tones are marked
throughout this website.
* The High Falling tone is now commonly pronounced as a
simple high tone and is generally understood if pronounced as the High
Tone. There are, however, some exceptions.
