No, cats can act according to human instructions, but most cats have no special reaction to human speech. They generally observe human behavior, facial expressions, movements, emotions, etc. It can be understood as a cat's conditioned reflex, rather than actually understanding what humans say, but cats can indeed distinguish human syllables and even tone.

Most cats can understand their own names, and they will give a little reaction when the cat owner calls their names. Although some kittens came to the scavenger with meows, and some just moved their ears and flicked their tails, they all responded.

But people usually think that this is because of conditioned reflex, often calling the cat’s name, and at the same time, there will be something good for the cat, so the cat will remember the name, and the cat can understand human speech. It doesn't matter much.

Generally speaking, a cat can understand whether you are scolding it or despising it, but it does not understand the meaning of your words, but the tone of the words.

When humans express happiness and praise to cats, their voices will rise and become softer and gentler. This voice is a friendly expression for cats. When humans scold or dislike cats, their voices will become deeper and their voice lines will become thicker, which is an unfriendly signal to cats. So cats don’t understand human speech, but they understand signals.