I’ve grouped the vowels in Cantonese into the somewhat familiar group of 5 vowels: aa, i, u, e, o. In many cases there are few twists and variations that make them into a group of vowels, as opposed to just a vowel.
Vowel a
- a — short English vowel ‘a’ sound; think ‘ah’ sound.
- aa — lengthened a sound; drawn out a little bit compared to a sound. This is much more common than a to the point that a is only added to the scheme in 2018.
Vowel i
- i — think ‘ee’ sound in ‘meet’.
- yu — like i but with lips rounded. Not to be confused with the English ‘y’ sound, despite there having a y in the spelling.
Vowel u
- u — think ‘oo’ sound in ‘boot’.
Vowel e
- e — think ‘e’ sound in ‘bed’, unless you speak Cockney, which in that case would the ‘a’ sound in ‘fat’.
- oe — like e but it’s rounded. A bit like the ‘ir’ sound in ‘bird’.
- eo — short version of oe (oh that’s confusing…) Think the ‘e’ sound in the French word ‘je’.
Vowel o
- o — think ‘aw’ sound in ‘yawn’.