What this converter does
Paste Chinese on the left; Jyutping appears on the right, and you can play each syllable. Use it if you can read the characters but not the sounds, need lyrics or lesson text annotated, or want the Jyutping spelling for an input method. Conversion runs in the browser; the text is not sent to a server.
Typical uses
- Learning: turn a passage or dialogue into Jyutping and match characters to readings.
- Lyrics: annotate a Cantonese song so you can sing along.
- Teaching: add Jyutping to a whole lesson in one pass.
- Input methods: look up which Jyutping to type for a character you are unsure of.
How to use it
- Paste or type Chinese on the left (traditional or simplified).
- Choose “text + Jyutping” (character[jyutping]) or Jyutping only.
- The right panel updates immediately; you can play the audio.
- Copy the result when you need it elsewhere.
About Jyutping
Jyutping was designed for Cantonese in 1993 by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK). Latin letters plus tone numbers 1–6 mark initial, final, and tone. It is the usual system in Hong Kong education, linguistics, and input methods.
The traditional “nine tones, six pitches” means nine tone categories but only six pitch values. Entering tones (old tones 7, 8, 9) share pitch with 1, 3, and 6. Jyutping writes only 1–6.
Yale romanization uses diacritics such as á and ǎ. IPA uses special symbols such as ŋ and œ. Jyutping uses ordinary keyboard characters, which is why input methods adopted it.
Where the readings come from
Readings come from CanCLID’s public to-jyutping library (BSD-2-Clause) and are computed in your browser. This site is not the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK), not the Education Bureau, and not a university course. LSHK published Jyutping in 1993; this page only wires that scheme and the lexicon into a form you can type into. When a string has more than one character, ranking follows that library’s guess of what is common in context. The first reading is often right. It is not guaranteed.
Play sends a request to this site’s server for that syllable’s mp3. The Chinese you pasted for conversion is not uploaded with it. There is no account. If a reading is not what you hear in Hong Kong, the usual causes are lazy initials, literary versus colloquial pairs, or a different sense of the character. Use the dictionary for every candidate. Do not treat this page as the only correct form.
The audio files are one recording per Jyutping syllable, not a recording of your whole sentence. Tones in connected speech will not match the isolated clip exactly. That is expected. The converter’s job is to label syllables so you can check a lyric, a worksheet, or an input-method code, not to synthesise a Hong Kong voice acting the line.
How to check a line without fooling yourself
Paste a line you actually need: a chorus, a dim-sum slip, a sentence from class. Choose “source plus Jyutping” if you want the character next to the spelling, or Jyutping only if you are drilling the romanisation. Tap play and follow the highlight. When a character has two lives—行 in 行街 versus 銀行, 好 as hou2 versus hou3—open the dictionary on that character instead of trusting the first tag. Simplified input is accepted; 发 follows the 發 side of the lexicon and will not automatically become 髮.
If you are learning to type, copy the Jyutping of a word you keep missing and try it in a Cantonese phonetic keyboard (on a phone you usually omit the tone number). If the street form you use is lei5 for 你, the converter may still write nei5. That is a standard-versus-casual split, not a site error. Pick the form your teacher, choir, or input method asks for.
FAQ
Will polyphonic characters come out wrong?
The converter picks the common reading. If the context is special (行 as hang4 or hong4), use the dictionary for every candidate.
Does it accept Simplified Chinese?
Yes. When one simplified character maps to several traditional ones (发 → 發 / 髮), it uses the usual mapping.
How is this different from Mandarin pinyin?
It is a different system. Cantonese keeps the ng- initial (我 ngo5), has finals such as aa and oe, and uses tones 1–6, not Mandarin’s four tones.
How do I remember the tones?
The set 詩史試時市事 is si1–si6. Convert, then tap play and compare.
The reading is not the one I hear on the street?
The tool lists common dictionary readings. Casual mergers (n/l, dropped ng) may not appear. Follow the standard you are trying to learn.