The Six Tones

六聲調

About this concept

Cantonese has six contrastive tones: high flat (1), mid rising (2), mid flat (3), low falling (4), low rising (5), low flat (6). Tone changes word meaning entirely. Jyutping numbers indicate tone.

In Settemila Lingue, this concept generates a practice deck of ~45 cards at level A1.

Examples

詩 si1 (poem)Tone 1 - high flat

史 si2 (history)Tone 2 - mid rising

試 si3 (try)Tone 3 - mid flat

時 si4 (time)Tone 4 - low falling

Concepts that build on this

Jyutping RomanizationA1 Tone Change Rules (Changed Tones)C1 Dialectal Phonology and Sound ChangesC2

More A1 concepts

Jyutping Romanization粵拼 Basic Greetings and Expressions基本問候語 Personal Pronouns人稱代詞係 (to be)動詞「係」有 (to have / there is)動詞「有」

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