Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "頭" in Japanese?

a-ta-ma, three even beats with three identical a's and no stress anywhere.

頭 /a.ta.ma/

atama

Three beats built on one vowel repeated three times. Standard speech gives the word a crest in the middle, but the durations stay locked — if any of the three a's is shorter or weaker than the others, English vowel reduction has crept in.

Listen: 頭

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Sound it out

a An unaccompanied a, bright and brief, filling one whole beat with the jaw down.

ta Dental contact for the t, released without aspiration, then a second a exactly matching the first.

ma Lips meet and part for a third identical a. Three of the same vowel in a row makes this an unforgiving test.

Hear it in a sentence

頭が痛いです。

Atama ga itai desu.

My head hurts.

Listen: 頭が痛いです。

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頭が痛いです ends with 痛い (i-ta-i), three morae where the closing a and i must stay separate rather than fusing into "tie." So the sentence gives you three identical vowels and then two adjacent ones that need keeping apart.

Where English speakers slip

"a-TAH-ma" stresses the middle beat and weakens the last. Match all three a's exactly. Learners also aspirate the t, which makes the middle beat pop out even more — put the tongue on the teeth and damp the release right down.