The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Cantonese pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.

See Cantonese phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Cantonese. Please note that English equivalents given in this page may only represent very approximate sounds to the original pronunciations.

IPA Yale Jyutping Chinese English approximation
Consonants
f f fan
h h house
j y j you
k g-, -k scan
k can
gw squeak
kʷʰ kw quick
l l leaf
m m moon
m mm
n n noon
ŋ ng song
ŋ̍ ng (syllabic ng)
p b-, -p span
p pan
s s saw
ɕ she (before i, yu)
t d-, -t stand
t tan
ts j z cats
beach (before i, yu)
tsʰ ch c tsunami
tɕʰ cheap (before i, yu)
w w water
ʔ (before a, e, o) oh-oh!

All of these consonants may begin a syllable,
though some speakers do not have [n, ŋ].[1]
In addition, [p t k m n (ŋ)] may end one.[2]

IPA Yale Jyutping Chinese English approximation
Vowels
aa, -a aa father
aːi aai time
aːu aau how
ɐ a cut
ɐi ai kite
ɐu au house (Canadian)
ei ei hey
ɛː e yes
ɛːu eu Spanish eu
ɪ i sing, sick
see
iːu iu eww!
ou ou hoe
ɔː o war
ɔːi oi boy
œː eu oe German öh, French eu
ɵ eo German ö, French eu
ɵy eui eoi F. euille, ≈ G. eu
ʊ u look
food
uːi ui phooey
yu German ü, French u
IPA Yale Jyutping Chinese Description
Tones
1[3] high level: si˥
high falling: si˥˧
2 mid rising: si˨˥
si 3 mid level: si˧
si̭ sìh 4 low falling: si˨˩ or very low: si˩
si̬ síh 5 low rising: si˨˧
sih 6 low level: si˨
sík sīk 1 high checked: sik˥
sīk sik 3 mid checked: sik˧
sìk sihk 6 low checked: sik˨
  1. Initial [ŋ] is not pronounced by younger speakers, leaving a glottal stop [ʔ] before a, e, o, and initial [n] may be pronounced [l].
  2. Final [ŋ] may be merged into [n]. [i u] in diphthongs are equivalent to a final [j w]. After [ɵ], a i becomes [y].
  3. The high level and high falling tones have merged to high level in Hong Kong for most words