Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "雨" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 雨 in Japanese?

雨 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /a.me/. It means “rain.” a-me, two short beats — and the pitch starts high, which is what separates it from 飴 "candy."

a-me, two short beats — and the pitch starts high, which is what separates it from 飴 "candy."

雨 /a.me/

ame

This is Japanese's textbook pitch-accent minimal pair. 雨 "rain" begins high and falls onto the second mora, while 飴 "candy" starts low and rises. The two words are identical in every other respect — same morae, same length, same consonants — so melody alone distinguishes them.

Listen: 雨

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Sound it out

a A bright short open vowel with the jaw genuinely dropped, filling a whole beat.

me The lips meet for the m and open onto a short front e that stays put. English slides toward "may"; anchor the tongue instead.

Hear it in a sentence

雨が降っていますね。

Ame ga futte imasu ne.

It's raining, isn't it?

Listen: 雨が降っていますね。

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雨が降っていますね uses 降って with its geminate: fu-t-te, three morae with a beat of held silence, and a ふ made with both lips rather than teeth on lip. So the sentence combines a pitch distinction, a bilabial fricative and a silent beat in a single short remark.

Where English speakers slip

Most learners produce "AH-may" with a stretched stressed first beat and a diphthongised second — and because English uses loudness where Japanese uses pitch, the accent often comes out as emphasis rather than a tone drop. Keep the volume level, drop the pitch, and freeze the e so it doesn't glide.