Initials

There are 19 initials in Jyutping. Three of them (gw, kw, ng) are written with two letters but pronounced as one sound. Not all syllables have initials (the “ø” column in the Jyutping chart).

b 巴
p 怕
m 媽
f 花
d 打
t 他
n 那
l 啦
g 家
k 卡
ng# 牙
gw* 瓜
kw* 跨
w 蛙
z 渣
c 叉
s 沙
j 也

*<gw> and <kw> are <g> and <k> produced with a lip rounding action.
Listen and Compare: gok1 – gwok1; kai1 – kwai1

#<ng> is similar to the ending of the English word “sing”.
Listen: ngo5, ngung1, ngaak6

Fake Initials:

  1. When the initial sound is an <u>, <w> is used as the first letter.

    2. Example: wu1, wui4, wun2
    Exception: <ung> and <uk> do not need a <w> initial.

  2. When the initial sound is an <i> or a <yu>, <j> is used as the first letter.

Example: ji1, jiu4, jim3, jyu5, jyun2, jyut6